Ethics is a latecomer to Software Development, but it has finally arrived

As Technologists, It's Time That We Upgrade The Ethics Of Our Work

Here is a quote:

In Seana Shiffrin’s compelling research paper on the moral dimensions of negligence, she notes that negligence“…involves a failure to take and exercise appropriate responsibility for one’s agency; and, when that failure involves other people, negligence involves a failure properly to recognize and acknowledge their moral significance.”

I can hear people screaming "Too hard for me to understand!" And they are right, it is too hard for them to understand. Ideas for them have to be extremely simple. Most people (perhaps 90 percent of the population) have been thrown into a world, much too complex for them to understand. 

Fortunately. there is the 10 percent, such as this writer. who can understand. 

Making Software Ethical

This cannot be done, because software is just a tool, a technology - like a hammer. It can be used to do good things and bad things.

However, once it has been put into operation - it is possible to see if the results are good, or bad - or some kind of mixture. And the results, in the case of Software - are often unethical, and in the worst way.

For example, I am reading Flash Boys about a fiber optic cable that was laid between New York and Chicago - that made it possible for computers (that were owned by the companies, that owned this cable) to outbid human traders - because they could do that faster, and smarter. This was enriching them - at the expense of everyone else.

This, however, is part of an overall development, called Artificial Intelligence (AI) that Software companies, are pissng in their pants over - thinking this will make it possible for them to also grab a lot of money.

After dabbling in this myself - I can reassure you that this threat is vastly overhyped - right now, but after they get their act together - it might be something worth worrying about.