2 - The responsibilities of engineers - Van De Poel

Question 1

What is responsibility?

Answer 1

Fact of being held accountable for actions and their effects

Question 2

Which types of responsibility can be distinguished with respect to when something happens?

Answer 2

1. Active: before something happens, aimed to avoid undesired consequences (prevention)
2. Passive: after something unexpected happened, aimed to limit the negative consequences (damage containment)

Question 3

Which types of responsibility can be distinguished with respect to the context?

Answer 3

1. Role: based on the role played in that context (can be multiple => can conflict between each others)
2. Moral: based on obligations from moral considerations

Question 4

How role responsibility is declined at work and how is it related with the moral one?

Answer 4

Declined into professional and limited by the moral one

Question 5

Which are the main types of passive responsibility?

Answer 5

Accountability and blameworthiness

Question 6

What is accountability?

Answer 6

Extent to which someone is required to provide account for the actions/decisions taken

Question 7

What is blameworthiness?

Answer 7

Extent to which someone can be target for blame

Question 8

What the necessary conditions to determine the right amount of blameworthiness?

Answer 8

1. Wrong-doing: degree of violation of the norms or just errors in the choice taken
2. Causal contribution: degree of causality between the choice taken (even if it is not to act) and the consequences
3. Foreseeability: degree of predictability of unavoided consequences
4. Freedom of action: degree of freedom of the actor in making the choice (MOST DIFFICULT to evaluate)

Question 9

What are ideals?

Answer 9

Ideas or striving inspiring and motivational, aimed to achieve an optimum

Question 10

How active responsibility is linked to ideals?

Answer 10

Ideals are what pushes people to feel a responsibility in their actions and pushes them towards a direction instead of another

Question 11

What is (in general) a professional ideal?

Answer 11

Spur/push towards a certain field of study

Question 12

Which are some of the main ideals for engineers?

Answer 12

1. Technology enthusiasm
2. Effectiveness & efficiency
3. Human welfare

Question 13

What is technology enthusiasm and how is it related to values?

Answer 13

Desire to develop new technologies and face new technological challenges.
In abstract neutral, but leads to overlook possible negative effects and ignore relevant social constraints

Question 14

Make an example of technology enthusiasm in history

Answer 14

Von Braun: rocket engineer for both nazi Germany and post-war USA.
First case rockets as bombs and research to exterminate people
Second case to send people on the moon

Question 15

What are effectiveness and efficiency and how are they related to values?

Answer 15

Effectiveness: extend to which a goal is reached
Efficiency: ratio between effectiveness and effort spent to reach it

Value-laden because depend on the goal for which they are pursued

Question 16

Make an example of research of effectiveness and efficiency in history

Answer 16

Taylor: optimize workers’ movement and make unions useless.
Pros: help scientific management & put engineers as capable of promoting social interests
Cons: push workers exploitation

Question 17

What is human welfare and how is it related to values?

Answer 17

Idea of enhancing human conditions and improve human lives.
Intrinsic representation of moral values

Question 18

Make an example of research of human welfare in history

Answer 18

Van Veen: effort to highlight the inadequacy of Netherlands dykes + attempt to expose the related problems

Question 19

What is the main cause of conflict between managers and engineers?

Answer 19

Managers hold the decision-making power, engineers hold the know-how and the expertise in a certain field

Question 20

Which are (hypothetically) possible approach to handle the managers-engineers conflict?

Answer 20

1. Separatism
2. Technocracy
3. Whistle-blowing
   (4. [Constructive] Technology Assessment)

Question 21

What is separatism?

Answer 21

Application of tripartite model to separate technological input (engineers) from decision-making process (managers)
Model is composed by managers to define the objectives, engineers to design and develop projects and users to use the final product

Question 22

Which are the main pros and cons of separatism?

Answer 22

Pros: allow a clear and distinct separation of roles and power => apparent clear division of responsibilities
Cons: limit role of engineers to just technology creators (no responsibility on use) => borderline situations (like Von Braun’s one)

Question 23

What is technocracy?

Answer 23

Government of the experts

Question 24

Which are the main pros and cons of technocracy?

Answer 24

Pros: (potentially) optimal management due to the high knowledge of experts
Cons: difficult to find right definition of expert + who should be the experts of the goal to be pursued by the other experts?
Heavily paternalistic => clashes with people’s autonomy

Question 25

What is whistle-blowing?

Answer 25

Disclosure of company abuses by employee without consent from superior

Question 26

Which are the main pros and cons of whistle-blowing?

Answer 26

Pros: prevent great harm + disclose problematics otherwise unknown
Cons: heavily disruptive (huge price to be paid by employee + damage of trust) + limited effectiveness => not feasible as general framework

Question 27

Which are the conditions to apply whistle-blowing?

Answer 27

1. Evidence + threat identified and reported (with consequences) and no change in organization intentions + all internal procedures exhausted
2. Consequences mean serious public harm (preventable by whistle-blowing)

Question 28

Which are the actors to be considered during the technological development?

Answer 28

1. Developers: produce technology
2. Users: use technology
3. Regulators: control and regularize development process
4. STAKEHOLDERS: anyone with something at stake but NO possibility to influence development (while 1-2-3 provide steering inputs)

Question 29

What is the main consequence of the multiplicity of actors in the technological development?

Answer 29

Difficulty of control (conflicting interests) and unpredictability of process (high number of variables)

Question 30

What is a Technology Assessment (TA)?

Answer 30

Systematic method to analyze consequences of technology development

Question 31

Which are the main pros and cons of a TA?

Answer 31

Pros: planned check over the process to identify problems in advance
Cons: Collingridge dilemma = early detection and warnings often NOT possible & once negative consequences materialize it is too late

Question 32

What is a Constructive TA (CTA)?

Answer 32

Method to parallelize TA efforts with development and design processes

Question 33

Which are the main pros and cons of a CTA?

Answer 33

Pros: more stakeholders involvement
Pros/Cons: shift of engineers’ responsibility (just one actor among others, BUT MUST consider stakeholders)
Cons: discussion engagement fundamental step