This project, based on your description, appears to lend itself to the further surveillance, categorization and division of societies. If this is the case then it is profoundly anti-democratic. Please elaborate on what the objectives of this project are.
Hi Gerard,
I think in any of these types of projects one cannot really go beyond that invisible proper-ethics wall since your software is only using what is already available to make those inferences.
If you are thinking about discrimination, anti-democratic applications etc. these have nothing to do with the tool but with the humans. We are able to use virtually any tool or piece of information to discriminate, humiliate, segregate and so on. You, in this project, are only offering some tools that can be used in both ways. I don't think, as engineers or crafters, it is our responsibility to care for all possible use scenarios for certain products.
With respect, I cannot agree with your assertion that "I don't think, as engineers or crafters, it is our responsibility to care for all possible use scenarios for certain products." This is the type of argument used by the gun lobby in response to gun violence - guns don't kill people, people kill people. It is a profoundly self-serving and unethical position to take.
It is precisely your responsibility to reflect upon all the possible consequences of your work.
To claim, as you do, that "your software is only using what is already available" is similarly an arrogation of personal responsibility in that it appeals, for its legitimacy, to the hollow argument that everyone else is doing it therefore why shouldn't I?
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Philosophy
- Ethics