Technology and Ethics

Technology and Ethics For Ethical Issues in Science and Technology J. Blackmon

Outline • Select Themes in Ethics of Technology • Ethical Theory and Terminology • Conclusion

Themes in Ethics of Technology

Themes in Ethics of Technology • Innovation Presumption: Liberty, Optimism, and Inevitability • Situated Technologies • Lifecycle • Power • Forms of Life • Extrinsic Concerns • Intrinsic Concerns • Responsible Development • Ethics and Public Policy • Framework for Ethical Analysis of Emerging Technologies

Innovation Presumption • Why does the ethical evaluation of technology tend to focus on what might be problematic about it? • Are we all luddites?

Innovation Presumption • Innovation Presumption: We should invent, adopt, and use new technologies.

Innovation Presumption • Innovation Presumption: We should invent, adopt, and use new technologies. • Innovation Presumption + Unknown Consequences → Warranted Scrutiny

Innovation Presumption • Innovation Presumption: We should invent, adopt, and use new technologies. • The popularity of the Innovation Presumption + Unknown Consequences → Warranted Scrutiny

Innovation Presumption • And it’s a win either way: Scrutiny allows us to avoid paying the negative consequences where the IP turns out to have been false. And should it turn out to be true in other cases, scrutiny may reveal why it’s true. • So, we advocate scrutiny of the IP without adopting an unfair bias against it.

Innovation Presumption Three Principles Supporting the IP • Liberty: We should be free to innovate so long as it isn’t harmful to others. (J. S. Mill’s Harm Principle) • Technological Optimism: Technology improves and will continue to improve human lives. • Technological Determinism: Technological advancement is inevitable.

Innovation Presumption Liberty: We should be free to innovate so long as it isn’t harmful to others. Harm Principle: The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.

Innovation Presumption Liberty: We should be free to innovate so long as it isn’t harmful to others. Much remains to be said! • What is harm? • Who are the others? • What kind of power, and how much?

Harm to others? Cindy cuts Jake • She’s a trained surgeon performing an emergency tracheotomy with no anesthesia. • Cindy has caused physical damage and pain to Jake. She may even have done this against his will. • Has Cindy caused harm to Jake?

Harm to others? Cindy cuts Jake • So perhaps whether Cindy harms Jake depends on whether she saves him from further/worse harm.

Harm to others? Cindy cuts Jake • So perhaps whether Cindy harms Jake depends on whether she saves him from further/worse harm. • But then whether harm is being committed depends on what is yet to come.

Harm to others? Cindy cuts Jake • So perhaps whether Cindy harms Jake depends on whether she saves him from further/worse harm. • But then whether harm is being committed depends on what is yet to come. • This is a notorious problem: How far into the future should we look when assessing consequences?

Harm to others? • How far into the future should we look when assessing consequences? • Even if we somehow decided, should this view of harm as something determined by future outcomes be defended, or should we look for a more plausible/satisfying alternative?

Harm to others? The Dukes of Hazzard • Bo and Luke Duke drive with extreme recklessness all over town, never hitting a single person due largely to luck. • Have they harmed anyone?

Harm to others? Liberty: We should be free to innovate so long as it isn’t harmful to others. Much remains to be said! • What is harm? • Who are the others? • What kind of power, and how much?

Harm to others? The Chalk Checker • Ida parks in a 1-hour parking space for more than an hour when other 1-hour spaces are left unoccupied. She gets a ticket.

Harm to others? The Chalk Checker • In court, Ida cites the great philosopher J. S. Mill, saying, “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against her will, is to prevent harm to others. But fining me does not prevent harm to anyone, not even if we count mere inconvenience as a harm. After all, no one was harmed, not even inconvenienced.”

Harm to others? The Chalk Checker • Is Ida right? Which “other” has been harmed? And if she is right, does the city have a case against her? • If the city does have a case against her, and yet no one has been harmed, then is J. S. Mill is wrong?

Harm to others? Non-existing Future and Possible Persons • Recall the commentator on Krasny’s Forum show: There are no passenger pigeons wanting to be brought back into existence.

Harm to others? Non-existing Future and Possible Persons • The problem generalizes.

Harm to others? Test Cases • Cindy the Surgeon • The Dukes of Hazzard • The Chalk Checker • Non-Existing Future and Possible Pigeons (Persons) These cases test the Harm Principle.

Harm to others? Test Cases • Cindy the Surgeon • The Dukes of Hazzard • The Chalk Checker • Non-Existing Future and Possible Pigeons (Persons) Harm Principle: The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.

Harm to others? Questions • What is harm? • Who are the others? • What kind of power?

Power? What kind of power? • In many countries, the state has intervened in the sale and distribution of cigarettes—ostensibly for the good of the people. • State Paternalism: In some cases, the state should limit the behavior of the people for their own good.

Power? What kind of power? • Hard Paternalism: Restricting activity for the good of the person regardless of whether they are informed and consenting. • Soft Paternalism: Restricting activity for the good of the person until that person meets certain standards for voluntary action.

Power? What kind of power? • Thus, the Harm Principle and the Liberty Principle raise questions about the exercise of power. • When power/intervention is called for, how should it be used?

Power? What kind of power? • Laws use coercion. • Financial incentives • Self-regulation

Recap • Liberty: We should be free to innovate so long as it isn’t harmful to others. • Harm Principle: The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his/her will, is to prevent harm to others. • While these principles may be attractive and compelling sentiments, they do not in themselves resolve important questions about harm, others, and power.

Ethical Theory and Terminology

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Types of Value • Instrumental Value: the value of something as a means to an end. • Intrinsic/Final Value: the value of something for what it is or as an end.

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Types of Value • Instrumental Value: the value of something as a means to an end. • Intrinsic/Final Value: the value of something for what it is or as an end. • Subjective • Objective

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Instrumental Value: the value of something as a means to an end.

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Instrumental Value: the value of something as a means to an end. The hammer has instrumental value because it does something valuable: pound nails.

Ethical Theory and Terminology Pounding nails gets value from easily and securely fastening pieces of wood together gets value from building safe comfortable structures gets value from Health, comfort, general happiness.

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Instrumental Value: the value of something as a means to an end. • Instrumental value entails some non-instrumental value.

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Types of Value • Instrumental Value: the value of something as a means to an end. • Intrinsic/Final Value: the value of something for what it is or as an end. • Subjective • Objective

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Intrinsic/Final Value: the value of something for it is or as an end. • Subjective: The value depends on how or whether we value it. • Objective: The value is independent of how or whether we value it.

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Subjective Final Value: Valued by us as an end in itself • Examples of things often thought to have subjective final value: • Works of art • Landscapes • Mementos • Religious artifacts • Historical sites

Ethical Theory and Terminology • Objective Final Value: Valuable independent of whether it’s valued by us as an end in itself • Examples of things often thought to have objective final value: • Human beings • Life • Typically, technology is not thought to have objective final value. • But of course, it affects things which do have it.

Technology and Ethics