The question was "Do we (software developers) need professional ethics?"
- https://github.com/mixinmax/Turing-Oath
- factual support for discussions with collegues, e.g. regarding the justifiability of certain actions
- knowledge base and key insights for work related decisions
- provide a pool of experience to everyone that finds his or her way into the profession
aims to counterbalance the profit-oriented messages and incentives with insights that usually develop over time
- legal form
- at first non-binding; no legal consequences; iterate on the idea and see where it goes
- at one point it might be an option to do something that is simliar to what already exists for doctors and accountants
- insincere attitudes are not only found at VW but in the (car) industry as a whole
- a related topic: software licenses that forbid e.g. military use
- make transparent what companies, that students like to work at (Google, Amazon, Facebook, and alike), actually do, and what
- company goals
- strategies they use to achieve their goals
- effects their actions have on our daily lifes and society as a whole
- make something like "information technology and society" a compulsory subject in computer science studies
- discuss typical problem cases and how to handle them responsibly
- see also "professional ethics" lectures
- Joseph Weizenbaum on assuming responsibility
- assuming final responsibility for what can be done with one's work
- "a woman will be raped this night ... and if I don't do it, somebody else will"
... as a response to "It does not matter if I don't do that dirty work, because somebody else will do it anyway. Therefore it is okay for me to do it."
- how society adapts to the digital transformation
- "arbeitsfrei statt arbeitslos", i.e. "holidays not unemployment"
- see also the book written by Constanze Kurz and Frank Rieger with the same name
- From every type of work, that influences society and is important to oneself, usually follows political interest/ commitment, since one's creation can always be abused.
- Take up the idea, carry it further, and continuously update it.
- e.g. via open discussions regarding the question "Do we need professional ethics?" ... just like this evening in the context of "lean Mate"
related material
next steps
- How do we want to approach this broad topic?
- look at other crafts
- look what other people allready did regarding sw-dev ethics
- look into philosphy (with the help of educated friends)
- How should we document and share our thoughts---among us and with others?
misc
random thoughts
- I guess that almost everybody thinks of themself as a generally good person and therefore justifies "bad" actions with good intentions and good/ important purposes. It may even be so, that those with the best intentions are the most relentless/ ruthless, because they "know" they are doing the right thing.
notes on the Turing Oath
- 2.2. (security) "with the intent to cause harm" needs to apply to all of the items before. Security researchers can develop exploits, but not in order to cause harm.
- Which of the rules would have prevented Dieselgate?
- I'm missing something like "I swear to use my craft for the betterment of society and humanity as a whole"