Ethics Report
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
New Jersey Institute Of Technology *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
201
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
9
Uploaded by UltraTreeMantis41
Ethics Report Engineering Ethics, PHIL334
Section 001 Lesson 11, Research Project Case Study II
Marcela Cardenas
Miami Beach Surfside apartment complex collapse Part II
In the disastrous case of the collapse of the South Champlain Tower. Back in 2021. And after the
further investigation made by The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on the people implicated in this accident. The jury and other prosecutors found Securitas (the security company) guilty of most charges related to the collapse.
"Judge Michael A. Hanzman of the Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County gave approval from the
bench to a more than $1 billion settlement involving insurance companies, developers, and other parties tied to Champlain Towers." (New York Times, 2022). Securitas had to pay more than five hundred dollars worth of settlement, for both the family members of the victims. Including owners of the building (who lost their condo and many of their lives). It was later found that the security guard working at the facility that night dialed 911 a couple of minutes before the disaster, but because he wasn't trained properly the button required to sound the speakers in every room in the South Champlain Towers didn't alarm its residents. "Ms. Furman, who had been a Champlain Towers security guard for four months, said in an interview that she received minimal training when she was hired, with another security guard explaining the contours of the job while they stood for an hour in the lobby. She said she never learned about the “all call” button."(New York Times, 2022). Those couple minutes were very valuable, they would have saved a lot of lives if the button was pressed on time.
Even if the building was still regularly inspected (2018 - 2021). Governor Ron DeSantis (Florida's governor) seem hesitant to make new inspection laws after the collapse. Discussions among local and state officials related to these new laws were frequent after the accident. "periodic, structural inspections of buildings should become mandatory statewide, and what role government inspectors should play" (CNN, 2021).
This regrettable incident will serve as an example of why catalogizing major problems and following along with a plan to fix them is vital. As with many other examples we had discussed in class, what happened with Champlain could have been solved if someone decided to whistleblow on this structural damage and lack of proper management promptly.
Bibliography:
One Button Could Have 'Saved More Lives' in Florida Condo Collapse - The New York Times
Mazzei, Patricia, and Mike Baker. “One Button Could Have 'Saved More Lives' in Florida Condo Collapse.”
The New York Times
, The New York Times, 23 June 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/us/surfside-condo-collapse-alarm.html.
This article written by Patricia Mazzei and Mike Baker was very helpful to see what other factors, besides the underlying structural problems, contributed to the collapse of the South Champlain Tower in 2021 (Florida). It was mentioned in the article that the security guard in charge on the night of the accident wasn't given the proper training. She didn't press the button to
alarm the resident of the imminent collapse because she didn't know of the existence of said button. While there was indeed a lack of good management in the Champlain condo, the security
system company working with them paid for most of the settlement. That was more than 500 dollars of a 1 million dollar settlement.
DISASTER & FAILURE STUDIES – Background – Resilience – Champlain Tower South Collapse
Background
. NIST. (2022, April 5). Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.nist.gov/disaster-failure-studies/champlain-towers-south-collapse-ncst-
investigation/background
This article made by the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) gives inside into what role they took in the events that happened before and after the disastrous collapse in Surfside. They mentioned that before the collapse of the Champlain Tower South, the NCST had investigated and pointed out the issues that the condominium had at the time. And in previous occasions, the Champlain Towers had been determined unsafe and in need of urgent fixing of their facilities by the reports made by the NCST. After the collapse, the NCST and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) worked together to study the reasons why the building collapsed, how could have been prevented and in what way a catastrophe like this can be foreseen and avoided it.
One year later: What we know about the surfside condo collapse
. -Tallahassee Democrat
Delgado, J. (2022, June 23).
One year later: What we know about the surfside condo collapse
. Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2022/06/23/surfside-florida-condo-collapse-what-we-
know-one-year/7627176001/
In this news article made by Tallahassee Democrat, we are presented with a follow-up on the legal aspect of the Champlain Towers collapse, a very detailed and inclusive news report on the lawsuits made by the owners of the apartment complex and all the people that were affected by this awful accident. And it was also stated that a great part of the compensation was going to be provided by the security company that ran the security system in the building. This legal battle took about a year to agree. Resulting in a 1 million dollar settlement meant to be given to both the family members of the victims that died in the collapse and the owners of the condo.
Surfside inspectors visited Champlain Towers South dozens of times. Now its collapse is spurring calls for reform - CNN
Tolan, Casey, and Curt Devine. “Surfside Inspectors Visited Champlain Towers South Dozens of
Times. Now Its Collapse Is Spurring Calls for Reform.”
CNN
, Cable News Network, 14 July 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/us/florida-condo-collapse-building-inspections-invs/
index.html#:~:text=Along%20with%20neighboring%20Broward%20County%2C%20Miami-
Dade%20requires%20building,set%20to%20hit%20that%2040-year%20mark%20this%20year.
This news article was suitable to give further insight into the expectations made previous to the collapse of the South Champlain Tower (Miami Beach - Florida). It was said that inspections of the building were common and reported. And that many of these inspections were marked as serious and urgent. But no plan was made or followed through by the management team in Champlain. It was mentioned that the building official of Surfside ignored the warnings of collapse and told the condo associates that everything was running smoothly and to not worry
about the safety of the building. And after the collapse, the governor didn't pass any new inspection law because what happened with Champlain was considered rare.
Lesson 14, Technological Unemployment and the Future of AI
Marcela Cardenas
PHIL 334
Automation, its impacts on diverse social layers, and its implications
If we were to incorporate the use of automated machinery and mechanism into "replaceable" jobs, which usually pay minimum or less than minimum wage to their employees. We would be doing a lot of damage to a lot of families who on many occasions depend on a single person to make ends meet. Contrary to the widespread belief, people who work at minimum wage jobs are not teens who only work to have some extra money to spend in addition to the commodities provided by their parents. But instead, adults who have children and at least 55 percent of them work as full-time employees. (Economic Policy Institute). That is the state of New Jersey would mean less than 13 dollars an hour, and for seasonal jobs as low as 11.90 dollars per hour (before fees and taxes)."There is a minimum wage of $11.90 per hour for seasonal and small employers who employ fewer than 6 people."(U.S Department of Labor).
The implementation of automated tools and automated "employees" into daily and many times categorized low-skill jobs, like office and administrative supports or transportation and material moving work fields, are every day more common and are at risk of unemployment by a high 47 percent. Automation and computerization would provide advantages and disadvantages on their own of course. But one of the greatest advantages of these tools is that they may provide more free time for their workers and because of their efficiency, it would encourage higher wages for the real employees. As pointed out by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams, in their book written in 2015, Inventing the Future Postcapitalism and a World Without Work "Some of these might be technical, some economic. But one of the chief ones is likely to be the moral value we attach to work via the work ethic. This is something we should aim to dissolve." (Philosophical Disquisitions). This goes hand to hand with the 8-hour workday myth, which consists of a day spent on 8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure, and 8 hours of sleep, promoted by companies to exploit their work and is very unrealistic. Considerating that we may take time from leisure to continue working on commuting. "Thanks to globalization, smartphones, and increasing competition, most of us work much more than eight hours a day, rising early for meetings with colleagues half a world away or burning the midnight oil to meet demanding deadlines."(The Takeaway). Hopefully, this is the case for employees in New Jersey, where the most common job from 1968 to 2014 was ranked from a secretary, truck driver, and school teacher to a machine operator. Which can be easily automatized or computerized in the future with exception
of teaching. As we can see this has already happened to machine operators not only in New Jersey but in almost all states to this day. " Machine operators and factory workers had a dominant presence in the Midwest and parts of the South through the late '70s. Then a combination of globalization and technological change made many of those jobs disappear." (NPR).
At the end of the day, we have to be prepared to adapt to these new lines of work and embrace the new technology that comes with it. Automatization and computerized tools are here to stay and ideally make our lives much easier.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
Sources and references:
State Minimum Wage Laws - U.S. Department of Labor
State Minimum Wage Laws | U.S. Department of Labor
. (n.d.). Www.dol.gov. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state#nj
Minimum Wage Tracker - Economic Policy Institute
Minimum Wage Tracker
. (2009). Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/minimum-
wage-tracker/
Philosophical Disquisitions: Demanding a Post-Work World - Philosophical Disquisitions
Danaher, J. (2015, October 29).
Philosophical Disquisitions: Demanding a Post-Work World: Technological Unemployment and the Human Future
. Philosophical Disquisitions. https://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/2015/10/demanding-post-work-world-
technological.html?m=1
The Myth of the 8-Hour Workday - The Takeaway
The Myth of the 8-Hour Workday | The Takeaway
. (n.d.). WNYC Studios. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/eight-hour-workday-
past-present-and-future
Will a robot take your job? - BBC News
Will a robot take your job? (2015, September 11).
BBC News
. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34066941
Map: The Most Common Job in Every State - NPR - wnyc
NPR Choice page
. (2019). Npr.org. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02/05/382664837/map-the-most-common-job-in-
every-state
Essay 13, Lesson 13, PHL334001
Marcela Cardenas
Autonomy in weapons and vehicles
The use of autonomous machines for military and nonmilitary purposes and its impact on people
There's a significant difference between the use we give to artificial intelligence in the military and how we utilize it in our everyday life.
if we refer to the use of artificial intelligence in the war that is currently happening in the Middle East (Iraq and Iran), a clear example of a great technological advantage that can go wrong is the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in North Western Pakistan. Even though these drones are considered exceptional tools and cutting-edge technology, they can cause great harm if they are used without taking into account factors like the safety of other people. For example, the Boeing X-45 that "was the first highly autonomous, unmanned system specifically designed for combat operations in the network-centric environment of the 21st century."(Boeing).
The aerial vehicles are controlled by pilots at a base. But because the pilots that manage the targeting system are only able to see the inhabitants of the places they bomb as little dots on a screen, which they commonly refer amount them as "bug splats". It would make sense that they may have lost some empathy for these people in Pakistan. This in consequence has caused a lot of casualties that in many cases include innocent civilians and children, these death are unjustified and unnecessary. ". An estimated
4,000 people
have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan since 2003, and drones have become embedded into people’s minds,
grafittied onto walls
,
woven into rugs
, and even
appear in their dreams
." (Atlas of the Future).
On the other hand, the use of artificial intelligence for nonmilitary use is still far from perfect, in many first-world countries including the United States. One example of how a mistake in the programming of an artificially intelligent machine can harm or even kill a person is the Tesla crash from 2016. As we all know Tesla created and currently manufactures a highly autonomous car that can be driven by itself. But on this occasion, May 7th of 2016, the car sensors couldn't recognize the trailer that was crossing the road, causing the Tesla car to drive at full speed against the trailer and hit a light pole, inadvertently killing its driver. And even if the autopilot system of intelligence cars is getting better with time and being perfectionated as we speak. This incident and many others that follow will serve as an example that maybe we shouldn't fully trust
in the autonomy of an artificially intelligent machine and how fragile our lives can be. "But the Tesla accident offers the first test of how consumers will react when reminded that they are putting their lives in the hands of computer code when they turn over control of the wheel."( The Guardian).
In both the drone warfare in Pakistan and the Tesla crash accident from 2016, we can observe how relying too much on artificial intelligence and its autonomy may affect and shift our ethical beliefs and even values, all for the sake of more efficiency and effectiveness. It seems to me as if
we are turning our societies more and more industrious as technology progresses and discoveries are found. This would be an amazing idea if it wasn't for the fact that we may not be properly equipped and prepared for what comes with this new responsibility. Like the rightful compensation of wrongful death due to these UAVs "The report concludes that the U.S. and Pakistani governments should create mechanisms to investigate civilian harm from drone strikes and provide compensation to victims". And in Tesla's cars, transparency is needed to solve underlying issues in their program or design.
Cited sources and references:
A different view #NotABugSplat - Atlas of the Future
“A Different View.”
Atlas of the Future
, 8 Feb. 2016, https://atlasofthefuture.org/project/notabugsplat/.
X-45 JOINT UNMANNED COMBAT AIR SYSTEM - Boeing
Boeing
, https://www.boeing.com/history/products/x-45-joint-unmanned-combat-air-
system.page.
Tesla Driver Dies in First Fatal Crash While Using Autopilot Mode - The guardian
“Tesla Driver Dies in First Fatal Crash While Using Autopilot Mode.”
The Guardian
, Guardian News and Media, 30 June 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/30/tesla-
autopilot-death-self-driving-car-elon-musk.
After the Dead Are Counted: U.S. and Pakistani Responsibilities to Victims of Drone Strikes - Open Society Foundations
“After the Dead Are Counted: U.S. and Pakistani Responsibilities to Victims of Drone Strikes.”
Open Society Foundations
, https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/after-
dead-are-counted-us-and-pakistani-responsibilities-victims-drone-strikes.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
Essay 12, lesson 12, Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence
Marcela Cardenas
Highlights on the history of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and current issues
There has been a lot of progress made in the history of computing since the creation of the abacus in 2700 BC. (Wikipedia). Progress was made as far back as the time when computers weren't referred to as machines, but instead, they referred to a person whose work consisted of remembering and calculating numbers (just like a calculator would do today). When we refer to the ethics related to robots we refer to "the ethical systems built into robots, the ethics of people who design and use robots, and the ethics of how people treat robots" (M. Asaro, 2006). This view can easily be clouded by the singularity myth. This myth consists of the assumption that machines will become so sophisticated and intelligent, that inevitably they will turn against humans. This kind of information is usually spread by biased or uninformed journalists. That has
led people to believe and fear a future in which thinking machines are "evil" and that they may turn against their creators and humanity as a whole. And eventually, cause our mass extinction, but that is a very illogical and extreme way of thinking because machines don't have a mind of their own.
This belief can be easily proven unfounded by the imitation game, created by the father of computer science Alan Turing. A test that consisted of asking a series of tricky questions to a machine to measure its capacity to think. This test would eventually lead to the creation of the so
well-known CAPTCHA test, that we usually encounter when trying to log into an account. Turing suggested that machines can become intelligent through exposure to data sets and experience. "Turing suggested that rather than building a program to simulate the adult mind, it would be better to produce a simpler one to simulate a child's mind and then to subject it to a course of education." (Wikipedia).
There's still plenty to discover and improve regarding artificial intelligence. And because of the widespread use of technology in today's society, one of the most important tasks for our generation, and the ones that follow, is to fix the many surging and existing problems in artificial
intelligence and machine learning. Like the use of sophisticated algorithms to control larger sections of society in China, to predict who could be a dangerous criminal, before that person commits any crime whatsoever (shockingly enough). This is a very damaging and irrational proposition from researchers in China, that has been previously proved to be inaccurate: "Of course, this work needs to be set on a much stronger footing. It needs to be reproduced with different ages, sexes, ethnicities, and so on. And on much larger data sets."(MIT, 2020).
For that reason, it is crucial and needed for the tech industry to be more diversified to avoid discriminating against people and cutting off their opportunities for equal treatment. Just like what happened with Joy Boulamwini and her finding in face recognition and algorithm bias, back when she was still studying at MIT. In her tests, her face couldn't be recognized as a face because of her dark complexion. A computer can learn to recognize faces if is exposed to an extended "training set", that can aid this machine in determining what a person is even if it "deviates too much from the stabilized norm", in this case, skin color. This existing problem would lead to unequal and unfair treatment in criminal sentencing in the US made by a biased algorithm. Affecting specifically African Americans. "The score proved remarkably unreliable in
forecasting violent crime: Only 20 percent of the people predicted to commit violent crimes actually went on to do so."(ProPublica, 2016).
It's remarkable how much progress in the technology field we have made, Like the creation of self-driving cars or our advances in face recognition.
But the mistakes and misunderstandings caused by the inappropriate use of technology and imperfect artificial intelligence need to be addressed as soon as possible.
Sources and references:
“Excerpt: Human Computers Are the Original Computing Machines.”
How To Speak Machine Computational Thinking For The Rest Of Us
, https://howtospeakmachine.com/2019/11/17/human-computers-are-the-original-computing-
machines/.
“Alan Turing.”
Wikipedia
, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing.
Angwin, Julia, et al. “Machine Bias.”
ProPublica
, 23 May 2016, https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing.
arXiv, Emerging Technology from the. “Neural Network Learns to Identify Criminals by Their Faces.”
MIT Technology Review
, MIT Technology Review, 2 Apr. 2020, https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/11/22/107128/neural-network-learns-to-identify-
criminals-by-their-faces/.
A reflective essay, what I learned from this semester
Marcela Cardenas
The lesson and examples that stood out the most to me this Fall semester 2022, were the lessons on whistleblowing and geoengineering. I find it very eye-opening how impactful is to speak up against injustice within the company you work on. And what new methods, tools, and approaches are being used to mitigate and stop climate change. I believe the information given in this class and the topics we went over as discussions are going to stay in my mind throughout my whole career. Especially when I decide on my future job in an industry, that may be required more
than just the technical knowledge that I learned in college. I think I understand better the importance of taking mindful decisions in both my life and professionally. Going back to my introduction, I was expecting to have some understanding of ethical views (like Machiavelism and consequentialism) and how they would affect my field, mechanical engineering. This will help me see things as more than black and white, and make a positive impact on the lives of other people (not only in the workplace).
Answering my comment in the first discussion of this class, I learned a lot of new things in this ethics class that I can apply to my own life. To be honest, I don't think I appreciated how embedded are ethics in our history and how many of the engineering catastrophes that had happened could have been prevented by an ethical decision.
If I was talking to someone skeptical about taking Engineering Ethics and they were to ask me "Why bother teaching ethics when people will lie, cheat, and steal for their benefit anyway?". I would probably tell them that this class gives them a better frame and point of reference when taking work-related decisions. Taking the right decision can prevent corporations from getting away with their crimes (by whistleblowing). And being aware that ethics are what shape our social systems can
be very useful in our everyday life.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help