Engineering Ethics Chapter 6 PDF

Engineering Ethics “Ethical Questions in the Design of Technology” (Chapter 6)  Authors IBO VAN DE POEL & LAMBER ROYAKKERS Chapter Outline 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Ethical Issues During the Design Process 6.3 Trade-offs and Value Conflicts 6.4 Regula...

Engineering Ethics “Ethical Questions in the Design of Technology” (Chapter 6)  Authors IBO VAN DE POEL & LAMBER ROYAKKERS Chapter Outline 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Ethical Issues During the Design Process 6.3 Trade-offs and Value Conflicts 6.4 Regulatory Frameworks Summary 6.1 Introduction On June 3, 1998, the German high speed Intercity Express (ICE) derailed at a speed of about 200 km/hr and ran into a bridge that fell down on the train. Overall, 101 people were killed and 88 severely injured. Investigations after the accident showed that the disaster was to a large extent due to a change in the wheel design of the train. The new wheel was not tested at high speed before it came into service, but based on existing experience and materials theory. After introduction the wheel solved the vibration 6.1 Introduction Three engineers, who all had been involved in the certification of the wheels were charged with manslaughter. Three objection were raised. First, among experts there was not a principled objection against the new type of wheels. Second, the adequate inspection procedures might not have prevented an accident like this. Third, it was not considered proven that the engineers had made gross mistakes in calculating the load on the wheels. Therefore the case was dismissed on the condition that each defendant paid a fee of 10,000 Euros 6.2 Ethical Issues During the Design Process Designing can be described as an activity in which engineers translate certain functions or aims into a working product or system. Stages of design: Problem analysis and formulation, including the formulation of design requirements Conceptual design, including the creation of alternative conceptual solutions to the design problem Decision: choice of one conceptual solution from a set of possible solutions Detail design Prototype development and testing 6.2.1 Problem analysis and formulation The stage of the design process in which the designer or the design team analyses and formulates the design problem, including the design requirements. On the basis of professional and corporate codes, a number of ethical considerations can be mentioned that should be taken into account. 6.2.2 Conceptual design In the conceptual design stage the aim is to generate concept designs. The focus is on an integral approach to the design problem. The designer does not try to realize each design requirement independently, but works on a combination of design requirements. During the conceptual design stage the creativity of designers is of major importance. However, creativity does not make you a morally better person. 6.2.3 Simulation The concept designs are checked in the simulation stage to see whether they meet the design requirements. How much reliable the predictions are that are made in the design process about the later behavior of the designed product, is a key question asked. Moral considerations play a partial role in how much reliability in predictions is desirable or acceptable. 6.2.3 Simulation The answer to this question depends in part on what is morally at stake. In the case of the design of a nuclear power plant, where an accident can result in thousands of deaths and an area can become uninhabitable for an extended period, the demands placed on the reliability of a statement concerning the probability that an accident will occur are considerably higher than say for a can opener. 6.2.3 Simulation Computer models are often used in simulations, computer simulations can be unreliable for a number of reasons Computer models can contain mistakes or errors that the users of the model are unaware of The assumptions made in drawing up a computer model can be wrong even if no explicit errors or mistakes are made The users of computer models are sometimes unaware of the limited domain of application for 6.2.4 Decision In the decision stage, various concept designs are compared with each other and a choice is made for a design that has to be detailed. The results from the simulation stage are used for this comparison. Evaluation of the different possible designs usually takes place in terms of the design requirements that resulted from the analysis stage. 6.2.4 Decision Two important terms  Design criteria: A kind of design requirements which are formulated in such a way that products meet them to greater or lesser extent. They are often used to compare and choose between different concept designs.  Trade off: Compromise between design criteria. For example you trade off a certain level of safety for certain level of sustainability. 6.2.4 Decision Ethical issues that rises from decision making  Who to include  Decision-making on design should be inclusive with respect to relevant stakeholders and moral considerations.  Explicit vs. Implicit decisions  Decision that are simply seen as the best way to deal with a specific problem or to proceed.  Organizational deviance  Norms that are seen as deviant or unethical outside the organization are seen within the organization as normal and legitimate.  Challenger and O-rings. 6.2.4 Decision One important lesson is that adequately organizing decision- making during the design process is essential to good design. Davis Collingride suggested four criteria for decision-making: 1. Corrigibility of decision (possibility.. 2. Choose systems that are easy to control 3. Flexibility of the decision 4. Insensitivity of the decision to error 6.2.5 Detail Design The stage in which a chosen design is elaborated on and detailed. Decision concerning: risks, health effects, and environmental impact. Uranium stabilizer in airplanes. Tropical hard-wood in rivers. 6.2.6 Prototype development and testing After the design is detailed, often a prototype of the design is constructed and tested. Test: the execution of a technology in circumstances set and controlled by the experiment, and in which data are gathered systematically about how the technology functions in practice. Problem: test circumstances are different than actual practice. Solution: knowwhat circumstances are relevant in actual practice and which are irrelevant for performing a good test. 6.2.7 Manufacture and construction Ethical issues during this stage: Labor conditions Issues of safety and health protection of workers Issues with respect to the environment and sustainability Construction work is known to be very dangerous activity US statistics: 39/100,000 death which is five times larger than the average worker Improved by better planning and design Case Hyatt Regency Hotel Walkway Collapse 6.3.1 Cost-Benefit Analysis Cost-Benefit analysis is a general method that is often used in engineering. It is that all considerations that are relevant for the choice between different options are eventually expressed in one common unit. Cost-benefit analysis can be also limited to the costs and benefits of a company that is developing a product and looking to market it. Cost benefit analysis is a method for comparing alternatives in which all the relevant advantages (benefits) and disadvantages (costs) of the options are expressed in monetary units and the overall monetary cost or benefit of each alternative is calculated. 6.3.1 Cost-Benefit Analysis Contingent validation is an approach to express values like safety or sustainability in monetary units by asking people how much they are willing to pay for a certain level of safety or sustainability (example: the preservations of a piece if beautiful nature). In terms of values, cost-benefit analysis might be understood to be the maximization of ones overarching or super value, such value could be an economic value like company profit, or the value of the product to users but it could also be a moral value like human happiness. If the latter is chosen, cost-benefit analysis is related to the ethical theory of utilitarianism. 6.3.2 Multiple Criteria Analysis It is based on a comparison of different options with each other with respect to a number of criteria. The value of each option is calculated according to the following formula : wj = cgi * vij over I, where: wj is the value of the jth option, gi is the relative weight of the ith criterion, and vij is the score of the jth option on the ith criterion. The option with the highest value is then selected. 6.3.2 Multiple Criteria Analysis Multiple criteria analysis does not demand that all the criteria are translated into one overarching criterion or value, such as human happiness or welfare. Like cost-benefit analysis, multiple criteria analysis thus presupposes the commensurability of values. Compared to cost-benefit analysis, the comparison between options in multiple criteria analysis is vaguer because no explicit attempt is made to translate all criteria to a common unit (like money), which may result in flawed decision- making because the result depends on the scale 6.3.3 Thresholds A third way to cope with conflicting design criteria is to set a threshold for each criterion. For each separate criterion (safety, health, costs, and sustainability) a threshold is determined for what is accepted Threshold is the minimal level of a (design) criterion or value that an alternative has to meet in order to be acceptable with respect to that criterion or value 6.3.3 Thresholds An advantage of setting thresholds is that the acceptable is considered for each criterion without making direct trade-offs between different design requirement This may be helpful to guarantee a minimal level of for example safety in the design process. However the question is whether it is possible or desirable to determine thresholds in complete isolation from other concerns 6.3.3 Thresholds Another possible disadvantage of setting thresholds is that you limit yourself as an engineer to realizing these values, while more can be achieved with a given design in terms of environmental impact or sustainability for example. 6.3.4 Reasoning This approach emphasizes judgment and reasoning about values. It consists of three steps: Indentifying relevant values: What values are at stake in the trade off Specifying the values: Some conceptualizations might not be tenable because they cannot justify why the value at stake is worthwhile. Looking for common ground among values: It helps solve the value conflict. This is similar to Kant’s notion of the good will (i.e. solve all value conflicts) 6.3.5 Value Sensitive Design This approach takes into account the possibility of solving or easing value conflicts through engineering design. Three kinds of investigations: Empirical investigations: understand the experiences of the people affected by technological designs Conceptual investigations: clarify the values at stake and make trade-offs between values Technical investigation: analyze designs and 6.3.6 A comparison of the different methods The following table summarizes the pros and cons of each method: 6.4 Regulatory Frameworks: Normal and Radical Design Is the totality of rules that apply to the design and development of a technology Can be considered a part of morality (i.e. it deals with judgments about how to act rightly) Partly based on public unrest or discussion Can help engineers make ethically relevant decisions in the design process 6.4 Regulatory Frameworks: Normal and Radical Design In order to judge whether a regulatory framework can be followed in design, the following conditions must be taken into consideration: The framework is complete in that it covers the relevant decisions without neglecting relevant issues The framework is free of contradictions and inconsistencies The framework is unambiguous The framework is morally acceptable The framework is lived by in practice Difference between Normal design and Radical design Normal design is the design in which the normal configuration and working principle of the product remain the same Radical design is exactly the opposite. It is the design in which either the normal configuration or the working principle of an existing product is changed Regulatory frameworks are more common in normal design than in radical Reason: The rules of the framework are related to the current working principle or normal configuration. What if the framework is morally unacceptable ? Engineers can follow the following strategies: Aim at changing the framework (i.e. get involved in the formulation of the technical codes) Inform other parties that formulate other parts of the framework about the problems they consider Deviate from certain elements of the regulatory framework in the design process Opt from radical design, in which parts of the framework do not longer apply Summary Engineering design is a systematic process in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint that can fulfill these functions The design process can be subdivided in a number of steps, each which raise their peculiar ethical issues: problem analysis and formulation, conceptual design, simulation, decision, detail design, and prototype development Some of the most important ethical decisions during design are made in the decision stage. Five methods for making decisions in cases of value conflict in design were discussed: cost-benefit analysis, multiple criteria analysis, setting thresholds, reasoning about values, and value sensitive design The degree to which frameworks are available depends on whether we deal with redesign of existing References ETHICS, TECHNOLOGY, and ENGINEERING, Wiley-Blackwell