Last (?) post on torture

We know (from textbooks, if nowhere else), that torture is unethical. Should we engineers leave it to the lawyers and politicians to hash our national policy re torture?

Well, no.

A very powerful opinion piece from the Washington Post:
Torture's long shadow

InfoWorld: "Off the Record"

Although these columns are about IT job disasters, they also provide insight into professional behavior and ethics: Infoworld: "Off the Record" columns

Torture: Morally wrong or just ineffective?

Two editorials that opine that torture is wrong, whether or not it is effective or ineffective.

Editor & Publisher: Torture is always bad -- or is it?

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: An unveiled threat

More links

Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions

sci.engr.* FAQ on Engineers and Ethics

Practical Ethics: Bringing Ethics to Life

Prison labor

Alternet.org discusses prison labor in: A sweatshop behind bars.

A good ethics project for IE students:
1) determine the facts re prison labor in the US and other countries
2) decide whether it's ethical for an IE to help make such a program more productive and efficient.

Ethics of torture

We all agree (I hope) that torture is unethical in our modern world. But what about "ticking bomb incidents"? In that case, the torturer should follow the rule of transparency and own up to what he/she has done.

From The Reality-Based Community:
Two different speeches on torture

$1,500 b'day gift --- to a 7 year old ?

From TPMmuckraker.com: Feds Probe B-Day Gift to Illinois Gov's Daughter

A new twist on the rule of thumb "if explaining the action would be embarrassing, the action itself might be unethical".

Ethics of using non-lethal weapons

From the Associated Press: Official touts nonlethal weapons for use:

Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

Interesting. I think that if you are not willing to use a nonlethal weapon (designed for use on civilians) on yourself or your own children, then it's very likely that using the weapon on civilians in another country is unethical.

Bhutan report

Engineering Ethics, kuenselonline: Bhutan's daily news site.

Unique aspects of the new ethics & conduct code in Bhutan:

The last two sections state the importance of preservation and protection of natural environment, and promotion of traditional values and culture. The clauses describe how cultural and architectural heritage should be incorporated in the designs and drawings and promote traditional arts and crafts through use of modern technology.

The institute's head of the civil engineering department, Karma Gayleg, said that while the other sections were drawn in line with the international code, the last two sections were added considering the 'unique identity' of Bhutan.

Blog links

I found several blogs that are related to engineering ethics. The following list is just that - a list, not an endorsement:

• EngineeringEthicsBlog


• Science and Technology Ethics Discussions


• Christian Engineer Blog - an evangelical Christian point-of-view

Any link suggestions are appreciated. I found the above links using Google's blogsearch function.

Note: There are quite a few blogs related to bioethics.

Who am I?

Michael H. Cole, Ph.D, PE - 2006 instructor for I&ME 300 (Professional Practice and Responsibility) in the Industrial & Management Engineering program at Montana State University.

Note: this blog is independent of I&ME 300 - my students are not required to follow this blog, and can completely ignore it if they wish!

First post

I will use this blog to collect resources related to Engineering Ethics, particularly as related to Industrial Engineers.