Ethical Engineering Milo Phillips-Brown + milopb@mit.edu + milopb.com Postdoctoral Associate in the Ethics of Technology, MIT Philosophy Research Fellow in Digital Ethics and Governance, Jain Family Institute
Overview
Overview 1. Why care about engineering ethically?
Overview 1. Why care about engineering ethically? 2. Why do technologies do wrong?
Overview 1. Why care about engineering ethically? 2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it) 3. An exercise in ethical engineering
Why care about engineering ethically? (you tell me!)
Why care about engineering ethically? (you tell me!)
Overview 1. Why care about engineering ethically? 2. Why do technologies do wrong?
Why do technologies do wrong?
3 possibilities
Option 1: Bad apples mastermind hi
Option 2: Incompetence mastermind hi
Option 3: Somebody does what makes sense
Often, technologies do wrong because people do what makes sense
Why would it make sense to make things that do wrong?
Engineering doesn’t happen in a vacuum hi
Ethical engineering is not incentivized hi
Unethical engineering is normal hi
The ethical stuff is not taken into account hi
When a technology does wrong ask: what was taken into account? incentivized? normal? …?
Overview 1. Why care about engineering ethically? 2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it) 3. An exercise in ethical engineering:
How to take ethics into account? Ethics Protocol
Ethic ics Protocol: overview
Ethic ics Protocol: overview ENVISION FUTURES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY STAKE- HOLDERS ENVISION FUTURES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY STAKE- HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY FUTURES VALUES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview MAP IDENTIFY VALUES TO STAKE- CHOICES HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY FUTURES VALUES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview MAP IDENTIFY VALUES TO STAKE- CHOICES HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY CHOOSE! FUTURES VALUES
Project 5 The small object next to a computer keyboard is most likely to be a computer mouse, not an elephant. In the real world, objects often co- vary with other objects and particular environments. In the project, we have two primary goals. The first is to develop an understanding for the brain’s ability to process and comprehend visual input through a biological and quantified explanation. Second, we further hope to utilize this understanding towards building a robust computational model, which would contribute to enabling current technology to identify visual cues more meticulously.
Project 5 The small object next to a computer keyboard is most likely to be a computer mouse, not an elephant. In the real world, objects often co- vary with other objects and particular environments. In the project, we have two primary goals. The first is to develop an understanding for the brain’s ability to process and comprehend visual input through a biological and quantified explanation. Second, we further hope to utilize this understanding towards building a robust computational model, which would contribute to enabling current technology to identify visual cues more meticulously.
An exercise in ethical engineering: Place recognition
Ethic ics Protocol: overview ENVISION FUTURES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview ENVISION FUTURES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY STAKE- HOLDERS ENVISION FUTURES
Stakeholders
Stakeholders • A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project.
Stakeholders • A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project. • Stakeholders are not just stockholders, you and your company, or your users.
Stakeholders • A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project. • Stakeholders are not just stockholders, you and your company, or your users. • Stakeholders are often indirect .
Question for you: why do we define “stakeholder” so broadly? definition (from before): a stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project
Why define “stakeholder” so broadly? • There are no ethical externalities : from the ethical point of view, everything matters • That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything. • But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!
Why define “stakeholder” so broadly? • There are no ethical externalities : from the ethical point of view, everything matters • That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything. • But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!
Why define “stakeholder” so broadly? • There are no ethical externalities : from the ethical point of view, everything matters • That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything. • But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!
Why define “stakeholder” so broadly? • There are no ethical externalities : from the ethical point of view, everything matters • That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything. • But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY STAKE- HOLDERS ENVISION FUTURES
FROM STAKEHOLDERS TO WHAT’S AT STAKE: VALUES (MORAL SIGNIFICANCE)
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY STAKE- HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY FUTURES VALUES
HOW DO WE IDENTIFY VALUES AT PLAY?
MORAL LENSES Different ways of looking at effects on stakeholders that reveal different kinds of moral significance
OUTCOME LENS In what ways does your technology turn out better or worse for each stakeholder in comparison to the starting state?
PROCESS LENS How did the process treat each stakeholder?
STRUCTURE LENS How are the outcomes distributed among stakeholders? what were the differences in how stakeholders were treated in the process ? what are the patterns?
Group work: moral lenses exercise • Outcomes: identify two stakeholders that may be benefited (and how); identify two stakeholders that may be harmed (and how). • Process : identify a situation where things look bad, process-wise, even if it looks good outcome-wise • Structure: identify a situation we things don’t look good, structure - wise, even if it looks fine, outcome- or process-wise
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY STAKE- HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY FUTURES VALUES
THE CHOICES YOU MAKE HAVE VALUE- LADEN EFFECTS: DESIGN IS VALUE- LADEN
Ethic ics Protocol: overview IDENTIFY MAP VALUES TO STAKE- CHOICES HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY FUTURES VALUES
Group work
Group work • Fill out at least one chart:
Group work • Fill out at least one chart:
Ethic ics Protocol: overview MAP IDENTIFY VALUES TO STAKE- CHOICES HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY FUTURES VALUES
Ethic ics Protocol: overview MAP IDENTIFY VALUES TO STAKE- CHOICES HOLDERS ENVISION IDENTIFY CHOOSE FUTURES VALUES
THE IMPORTANCE OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
imagining fu futures + other stakeholders + values
should stakeholders have some ownership over design process?
The module is over. 1. Why care about engineering ethically? 2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it) 3. An exercise in ethical engineering
The module is over. Now what? 1. Why care about engineering ethically? 2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it) 3. An exercise in ethical engineering
Your feedback will really help bit.ly/ethicsfeedback958
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