The best kind of rules are those we apply to ourselves

September 14th, 2009

Johnny Cash walking the line: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8697877@N06/531859329

Nice one Jamais, who goes onto to say in his post

The best kind of rules are those we apply to ourselves, those we believe in. Ethics–sometimes thought of as “how you behave when no-one is looking”–have the advantage of being readily applied to novel situations, and able to guide responses fitting the spirit of the law. People in positions of social power (such as doctors and lawyers) often receive training in ethics as part of their educations. What I’d like to see is the introduction of ethics training in these new catalytic disciplines.

Computer programmers, biotechnologists, environmental scientists, neuroscientists, nanotech engineers–all of these fields, and more, should have at least a course in ethics as part of their degree requirements. Ideally, it should be a recurring element in every class, so that it’s not seen as just another hoop to jump through (check off the “is this ethical? Y/N” box), but instead as a consideration woven into every professional decision.

I agree that ethics should be taught alongside everything else we learn. Otherwise we think that ethics is the responsibility of someone else. This is something that has pre-occupied me; it seems that we have removed our own implicit sense of personal and collective accountability by applying more and more legislation, systems, governance – which has externalised ethics. If this knowledge is not implicit, it becomes very hard to apply moral judgments to what we do.

Ethics in business school anyone? The big point is this,

as tempting as it is to rely on well-structured tools to prevent disastrous outcomes, even the best tools are ultimately insufficient. Good interfaces need to be accompanied by strong ethics. It’s not just a matter of right and wrong; increasingly, it’s a matter of survival.

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