Wow this one was heavy. I wasn’t sure what I was going to end up reading, but hearing a software developer feel tied to a human taking their own life was something I had never even thought about before. But it makes so much sense. These days, almost everyone can learn something new from the internet, and as developers we are the ones to put in the work to get that information to the world. Yes, it was the pharmaceutical company who made the decision to decieve teenage girls, but they would be unable to actually do the decietful thing if they didn’t have the vehical to get it out there, and thats what we provide. I completly agree with this article, software development is riddled with ethical dilemmas, and we just have to be aware and really think about the company we are building the platforms for. If you don’t want a message to be heard because you don’t agree with it, maybe dont advance the progress of getting that message out by building any software for that company. This was a very powerful article and I am glad I chose this one to read.
This one was interesting! I had previously had this same thought when the idea of self driving cars was bouncing around. How could technology have quick enough reflexes? How can technology make decisions based on ethics? And if something goes wrong, and someone is hurt, who gets blamed? The “driver”, the car, the car company? There seemed like so many problems to overcome and back in the day I didn’t think self driving cars would actually become a thing. Of course, I didn’t know the capabilities of technology then. As a developer, and after reading this article, I feel as though I will have a hard time developing for companies that have a direct hand in affecting human lives. But then again, that is simply just living in fear. And if I am scared that this tech has the potential to hurt people, there is an argument that I should WANT to work for them so that I can do everything in my power to help solve those problems. Some of this technology is inevitable, it’s going to be built whether we like it or not. So as a developer, do I protect myself and work with companies that have a significantly lower chance of hurting anybody? Or do I target these potentially dangerous companies in an effort to provide insight for the best possible practices and push for solutions to these important problems?