“Every decision you make has an ethical dimension, whether it is apparent or not.” This quote from our reading this week really stood out in my mind. It makes since that even in these seemingly insignificant assignments we are making decisions that involve our own personal ethics. As the chapter also discusses with the technological advances of our times, many of the ethical answers of the past no longer apply to the situations of today. With the extreme amounts of competition and stress that our technologically advanced culture presents us with every day, it is no wonder that many people have chosen the wrong path in regards to “ethical” decisions.
As it is discussed in TCT our Personal ethics are a reflection of what we have grown up with and what we have been exposed to, but in a world of computers we are exposed to just about everything. I think that with the technology of today and its anonymity this certainly adds to the ethical dilemmas when computing. It is easy for someone to utilize the work of another (possibly anonymous) person and no one would ever know about it. The anonymity of technology has also decreased fears of legal repercussion in regards to Social ethics. If someone feels they can get away with something easily, they probably won’t have much trouble considering taking a course of action they may have never taken previously. As with the instruction and white paper projects we are now creating, we could easily fill them with decent looking information that is completely false. It would seem that one of four categories of ethics, “Care – Tolerance and compassion for others”, has been all but forgotten in this digital age. This loss of care and respect can also be contributed to our digital life styles.
The Ethics of Ubiquity
I like the implicit connection between the two halves of your reading response this week. Every decision we has an ethical dimension because every decision excludes something. To do one thing is not to do the other, and this is an implicit or explicit argument for some thing's value (TCT rightly connects values and ethics). This, then, is the issue with technology when it becomes so ubiquitous as to become invisible. Technologies promote certain behaviors and values over others: a tool suggests how it ought to be used. However, once a technology becomes widespread we often forget the argument it makes. We assume, for instance, that PowerPoint is ethically neutral, when, in fact, it places significant limits on how we present information. This is not to say that PowerPoint is biased anymore than any other tool is, but it is to suggest that our selection and use of any tool is an implicit judgment. Here, then, is the ethical dimension.
Nathaniel you make a good
Nathaniel you make a good point and point out something I hadn’t really thought about with PowerPoint. As we become comfortable with some type of technology we begin to either trust it or just get used to it and assume it is a norm. We may be losing sight of our decisions we are actually making as to whether or not utilizing a certain piece of software is affecting our overall product. As you mentioned the use of PowerPoint could impede creativity without someone even realizing it. Ethics are complicated and technological ethics will prove to become more important as technology becomes more popular.
Thanks
JFlitt
www.JFlitt.com
Personal Ethics
My personal belief is that ethics should be simple. We all have our own personal beliefs about ethics and how we incorporate them into our daily lives. It is not that difficult to take those personal ethics and apply them into every situation we come in to. No longer do we have the peer pressure or immaturity that we faced in high school. By this time in our lives, we pretty much all have our own established views and stick to them under most circumstances. These views are influenced by how we were raised, our personal experiences, and what we heard directly from our parents and peers.
Ethics simplified
I agree with your outlook. I think ethics is a great discussion topic, but I truly believe that it is overdone in academic settings. There are many ways to analyze decisions and take considerations as to which is the most ethical, but you often find yourself in a dilemma. Option A helps some people and hurts others, option B helps some and hurts others, and so on. I agree that we each have our own personal ethics, and our own personal ideas of right and wrong. Applying these personal beliefs into our daily lives is all we can expect of one another. I think it can be summed up in a quote I came across once upon a time: “do the right things, for the right reasons, and never look back.”
Ethics and Tech
In real life ethics is a very simple thing. Virtual ethics is an entirely different monster. Pretty much everyone one I know, including myself, was taught not to steal and would not steal be it from a friend, enemy, Wal-mart, or whatever. However most people I know, including myself, have pirated something be it music, a game, or a piece of software. Most people that say they haven’t pirated something are probably lying. Even though I was raised not to steal and wouldn’t steal from a store or friend pirating is just too easy not to do. Technology makes it very easy to ignore your ethics.
http://www.cristgaming.com/pirate.swf
You say that "Technology
You say that "Technology makes it very easy to ignore your ethics." My question to you is; are people actually ignoring their ethics or do they actually feel as if they don’t have any ethics to follow? In thinking about it, while were growing up we were taught not to do this and that by our parents, but our parents didn’t have technological experiences like we are having today. Maybe in the future (our kids for example) children will be taught what is right and wrong even from a technological standpoint. I have even seen how parents today are teaching their young children about safety online, maybe ethics will naturally follow.
Thanks
JFlitt
www.JFlitt.com