Ethics summary
1.Safe by design
For the most riskful things, there are ways of ranking/dealing with them:
- REACH (chemical substances)
- Bureau GGO
- CE-certification
- ISO-standards
- EMA-guidelines
Hereby you do the things right, but does it also mean you do the right things?
Safety is a very important concept but also a very broad concept. It relates to the
environment, humans, ecosystems, species, but also, processes, products, events, etc.
Design: Engineering, chemical, bio, nano engineering, medical technologies, instruments,
hardware, software, privacy.
Vision → concept → development → validation → production are the 5 phases of design.
There is a shift in science whereas safety has become a core value: safe-by-design. Right
now we start to think about safety from the early start instead of in phase 4: validation.
Pacing problems:
Technological innovation outpaces the ability of laws and regulations to keep up. So when
working on these technologies there are often no relevant laws or regulations in place to
warrant safety and other public values.
Safe-by-design: Purports to be less a barrier to innovation, than a facilitator or driver of
innovation.
Precaution: As long as we do not know if something is 100% safe, keep it from society.
Four types of innovation:
a.m.spook©2021
,Risk: We know what might go wrong and the consequences, and we know the probability of
those consequences occurring. (consequences x probability)
Scenario uncertainty: We know what might go wrong but we cannot meaningfully attach a
probability to the occurrence of these consequences.
Ignorance: We do not know what might go wrong, nor any probability.
Indeterminacy: Because the future is still open and underdetermined, all sorts of actors
might use the technology differently than foreseen or expected by designers.
Normative ambiguity: Uncertainty or disagreement about values and norms.
a.m.spook©2021
, 2. Ethical theories
Western ethics: critical reasoning, making accountable moral decisions. Stop, see, reflect,
understand, and then act.
Verlichting: Science against mystification.
The origin of knowledge.
Rationalism: “Reason provides us with certainty about the world. (Descartes)”. Genes or
god gave you the reason.
Empiricism: “Nothing is in our mind, what was not before in our senses. (David Hume)”
The concept is already in your mind.
Hume:
Good and evil are nothing more than feelings of pleasure or pain when evaluating acts.
Judgement is hardwired.
Bentham and Mill:
Good and evil are nothing more than feelings of pleasure or pain, sensory data. Founding
idea of utilism. Judgement is rational.
Ethical theory (utilitarianism): Aim to produce for the greatest good for the greatest number.
- Maximizing happiness, minimizing suffering
- The good of the whole
Kant: Duty, the imperative to act right. Good and evil are judged by principles. Only rational
critical reflection can overcome hard-wired limitations.
Ethical theory (deontology): Looking for the principles that aligns with the rightfulness of the
action itself. Aim is to act according to your duty to respect others as ends in themselves.
- Respect for autonomy
- Judging an action on itself
Kant’s project:
- What can we know?
a.m.spook©2021
1.Safe by design
For the most riskful things, there are ways of ranking/dealing with them:
- REACH (chemical substances)
- Bureau GGO
- CE-certification
- ISO-standards
- EMA-guidelines
Hereby you do the things right, but does it also mean you do the right things?
Safety is a very important concept but also a very broad concept. It relates to the
environment, humans, ecosystems, species, but also, processes, products, events, etc.
Design: Engineering, chemical, bio, nano engineering, medical technologies, instruments,
hardware, software, privacy.
Vision → concept → development → validation → production are the 5 phases of design.
There is a shift in science whereas safety has become a core value: safe-by-design. Right
now we start to think about safety from the early start instead of in phase 4: validation.
Pacing problems:
Technological innovation outpaces the ability of laws and regulations to keep up. So when
working on these technologies there are often no relevant laws or regulations in place to
warrant safety and other public values.
Safe-by-design: Purports to be less a barrier to innovation, than a facilitator or driver of
innovation.
Precaution: As long as we do not know if something is 100% safe, keep it from society.
Four types of innovation:
a.m.spook©2021
,Risk: We know what might go wrong and the consequences, and we know the probability of
those consequences occurring. (consequences x probability)
Scenario uncertainty: We know what might go wrong but we cannot meaningfully attach a
probability to the occurrence of these consequences.
Ignorance: We do not know what might go wrong, nor any probability.
Indeterminacy: Because the future is still open and underdetermined, all sorts of actors
might use the technology differently than foreseen or expected by designers.
Normative ambiguity: Uncertainty or disagreement about values and norms.
a.m.spook©2021
, 2. Ethical theories
Western ethics: critical reasoning, making accountable moral decisions. Stop, see, reflect,
understand, and then act.
Verlichting: Science against mystification.
The origin of knowledge.
Rationalism: “Reason provides us with certainty about the world. (Descartes)”. Genes or
god gave you the reason.
Empiricism: “Nothing is in our mind, what was not before in our senses. (David Hume)”
The concept is already in your mind.
Hume:
Good and evil are nothing more than feelings of pleasure or pain when evaluating acts.
Judgement is hardwired.
Bentham and Mill:
Good and evil are nothing more than feelings of pleasure or pain, sensory data. Founding
idea of utilism. Judgement is rational.
Ethical theory (utilitarianism): Aim to produce for the greatest good for the greatest number.
- Maximizing happiness, minimizing suffering
- The good of the whole
Kant: Duty, the imperative to act right. Good and evil are judged by principles. Only rational
critical reflection can overcome hard-wired limitations.
Ethical theory (deontology): Looking for the principles that aligns with the rightfulness of the
action itself. Aim is to act according to your duty to respect others as ends in themselves.
- Respect for autonomy
- Judging an action on itself
Kant’s project:
- What can we know?
a.m.spook©2021
