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From: taylor@hplabsc.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.comp-soc
Subject: Some thoughts on technology
Message-ID: <516@hplabsc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Aug-86 14:15:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: hplabsc.516
Posted: Fri Aug  1 14:15:26 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Aug-86 23:20:23 EDT
Reply-To: hplabs!tektronix!videovax.TEK.COM!stever@hplabs.HP.COM
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
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Approved: taylor@hplabs
Reference: <445@hplabsc.UUCP>

This article is from tektronix!videovax.TEK.COM!stever (Steven E. Rice)
 and was received on Fri Aug  1 11:08:56 1986
 
I don't normally read _mod.comp-soc_, but happened to be leafing through
a week or so ago.  One of the discussions that caught my eye was whether
technology was or was not morally neutral.  The writers seemed to be in
agreement that it was not.

However, technology is just one more tool in the hands of an individual
or individuals.  No technology is self-creating or self-directing -- all
of this must come from the hands and minds of human beings.  If a
technology is used for good purposes, or if it is used for evil purposes,
the responsibility is the users'.

An example of this is a recent tragedy in Seattle, Washington.  A man
forced his way into the home of a family of four, tied up the father,
mother, and two sons, chloroformed them, beat them with an iron (the
kind you iron clothes with), and stabbed them.  The mother died at the
scene, and the father and two sons died of their wounds over the next
several weeks.

Consider the technologies involved for a moment -- wrapping and tying
(the rope), anesthesia (the chloroform), clothes maintenance (the iron),
and food preparation (the knife).  In each case, the normal usage of the
particular technology is for positive ends.  But in each case, the
murderer mis-used a product of that technology for an evil end.

This is not an isolated example -- it applies across the board.  Even
the science-fiction "killing machine" (robotic battle tanks, and so on)
are not signs of evil technology.  A machine which has no good purpose,
having been built for evil ends, is a product of the minds and the hands
of men.  And the responsibility for moral judgements lies upon them.

						Steve Rice