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What is Ethics?
• Ethics is the study of what is means to
“do the right thing”
• Ethical rules are followed in our interactions
with other people
• Ethical theories goal:
– Enhance human dignity, peace, happiness
Ethics
Dictionary.com:
•
a system of moral principles: the ethics of a culture.
•
the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of
human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics;
Christian ethics.
•
moral principles, as of an individual: His ethics forbade betrayal of
a confidence.
•
(usually used with a singular verb ) that branch of philosophy
dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the
rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness
and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.
The Gift of Fire
Prometheus
– Titan in Greek mythology
– Stole fire from Zeus (No1 Olympian god)
and gave it to Mortals
– Got punished:
• Was bound on a rock on mount Kaukasos,
• An eagle was eating his liver every day
• Every day liver was re-generated
– Saved by Hercules after long time
A Modern Analogy
Fire
Computer technology
• Benefits:
• Benefits:
– Heat home
– Cook food
– Generate Electricity
• Problems:
– Catastrophic
– 1871 Chicago Fire
100,000 homeless
– Makes tasks quick, accurate
– Communication
– Information Retrieval
• Problems
– Privacy
– Theft
– Reliability (Air controller
systems)
Example: ATM machines
• Unemployment
Benefit: ATM Computing technology offers new job opportunities
Problem: ATMs replaced bank clerks
• Alienation and Costumer Service
Benefit: ATMs can be accessed anytime anywhere
Problem: Interaction with machines instead of humans
• Crime
Benefit: ATMs have cameras and protection systems
Problem: Stolen debit cards
• Privacy
Benefit: ATM records don’t pose serious privacy problems
Problem: ATM databases may get compromised
• Errors
Benefit: ATM errors can easily be detected and corrected
Problem: New York Bank debited twice the amount
Some Issues
• Freedom of Speech
– What can we post on internet?
– Anonymity (should be allowed or not?)
• Intellectual Property
– Illegal copies of music, movies, software
– Open-source software
• Professional Ethics
– Should computer systems have built-in protection
against crime?
– Software engineering Code of Ethics