CHAPTER 7: ETHICAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) – an important document in the history of human
rights

 Proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948

 UDHR lays out the fundamental human rights

UDHR Preamble:

“recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world”

Article 1 – Right to equality

Article 2 – Freedom from discrimination
Article 3 – Right to life, liberty, and personal security
Article 4 – Freedom from slavery or servitude
Article 5 – Freedom from torture and degrading treatment
Article 27 – Also known as the Right to Science and Culture
“everyone has the right to participate in the cultural life of the community and to share in
scientific advancement and its benefits.” – UDHR
Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
Covenant – a treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly on 1 December 1966

7.1 Ethical Dimension of Science and Technology

 Nuremberg Trials – a trial where members of Nazi party were tried for war crimes
 Doctors’ Trial – prosecuted physicians involved in unethical human experimentation
 Nuremberg Code – contained ten points which detailed the elements of ethical medical
experiments

No human subject should be forced to participate in experiments that will yield harm or injury

Declaration of Helsinki – one example of a document outlining ethical principles in research ethics
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– was first published by the World Medical Association (WMA) in 1975

 Clinical ethics is just one branch of applied ethics – a branch of ethics or moral philosophy

Examines specific issues such as abortion, animal rights, and environmental concerns

It serves as the purpose of providing a moral point of view

 Science has a social dimension; it is ultimately tied to its ethical dimension

7.1.1 Ethical Decision-making in Science – scientists follow a framework or technique that attempts
to consider the issues, options and arguments that may arise in any situation that requires a decision

Essential Elements in Making a Decision:

1. Identifying stakeholders.
 2. Identifying possible options or course of action.
3. Review arguments for each option.
4. Making a rational choice from the available options backed with the strongest set of moral
reasons or principles
Moral principles – provide distinctive guidance in making ethical decisions but usually in conflict
with non-moral reasons (self-interest, efficiency, economy)

4 principles of Medical Ethics: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice

Ethical Matrix – ethical tool developed to help in decision-making

Developed by Ben Mepham

First applied to emerging biotechnologies

Contains 3 principles:

1. Well-being – maximization of good

2. Autonomy – freedom
3. Fairness – respect for justice and the law

7.1.2 Code of Ethics of Scientists and Engineers

Codes of Ethics – exist in order to guide scientists and engineers to perform their work in an ethical
manner

COE purposes:
1. Establish standards of conduct
2. Formulate rules
3. Provide a framework
4. Manage the expectation of the public

Hippocratic Oath – an old code used by medical practitioners

 Recent and revised codes for the medical field:

– Code of Medical Ethics by the American Medical Association (AMA)

– Declaration of Geneva by the World Medical Association (WMA)

Ethical Principles and Guidelines for Filipino Scientists

 Consists of preamble and 8 general principles

 Aims to guide Filipino scientists to achieve a high level of professional and ethical behavior.
 Published by National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) in 2009

EPGFS Preamble:

“Scientific research as a public trust – Since the general public does not have the means of
verifying the results of the work of scientists, the burden of making sure that their work is
correct lies on the scientists themselves.”

General Principles
 1. Ethical scientific practices – able to criticize and rectify wrongful behavior by colleagues
2. Ethical use of science in Philippine society – scientific knowledge is used in the advancement
of the nation
3. Conflict of interest – refrain from making biased judgements and statements that favor self-
interest
4. Intellectual Honesty – properly acknowledge the work of other scientists when using their
findings in making reports
5. Weighing the benefits of science vis-à-vis potential harm – strive to minimize potential
harms of science to the society and environment
6. Commitment to professional development as scientists – strive competency by undertaking
further studies
7. Development of students and other stakeholders – committed to educating students and
other stakeholders and serve as role models of proper conduct
8. Advocacy for scientific approaches – protect freedom of scientific thought and expression
 By the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) of the United States of America
 Contains ff. sections: preamble, fundamental canons, rules of practice, professional obligations
 Engineers should be honest, impartial, and fair; and also dedicated to safeguarding the health,
safety, and welfare of the public

 Code of Ethics for the Chemistry Practitioners

 Article 1 – it is stated that chemistry professionals have an obligation to the society
 Sec. 3 of General Principles – chemistry are required to abide by rules and regulations
protecting the environment

7.2 Social Dimension of Science and Technology: the Device Paradigm

Technology

 refers to the techniques and processes used to achieve a certain purpose

 technology being considered as object, knowledge and activity
 technology can be viewed as an intention – the commitment to a goal

Three essential Types of Approaches to Technology

 Proposed by Albert Borgmann

Substantive view – technology as a force of its own, capable of shaping society without
interventions from other sources

Instrumentalist view – technology as a mere instrument to achieve social values

Pluralist view – dynamic interactions between technology and social values as a complex web

 Promise of technology : “bring the forces of nature and culture under control, to liberate us
from misery and toil, and to enrich our lives” – Albert Borgmann
 Device paradigm – tool used to remove ambiguity and view technology in a proper way
– things are distinguished from devices.
 Things – technology is inseparable from its social context
 Devices – social context is removed, simply a tool used as a means to an end
 The reason why devices become readily available – they operate in an instantaneous,
ubiquitous, safe, and easy way

7.3 Robotics: an Example of Contemporary Issue in Science and Technology

 The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Human Biology by Ray Kurzweil

Identifies technologies capable of driving the society to singularity – the point wherein the
intelligence of machines converge with that of humans

Genetics, Nanotechnology, and Robotics (GNR) – can threaten to make humans an endangered
species (Bill Joy – cofounder of Sun Microsystems)

7.3.1 Background on Robotics

Robotics – refers to the use and development of robots

Robots – are programmable machines that are capable of motion and interaction with their
surroundings

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) –seeks to develop intelligent computational systems

 Ancient Greeks had the concepts of robots but only come into use in 1921.
 Karel Capek’s play Rossum’s Universal Robots – depicted the creation of machines that serve as
humanoid slaves
 From Czech word “robota” – forced labor.

Classifications of Robots

 International Federation of Robotics classified robots as:

Service Robots – find domestic and field applications. This are robots that perform useful tasks for
humans or equipment excluding industrial automation applications

Industrial Robots – strictly used in industrial setting. Automatically controlled, reprogrammable,

multipurpose manipulators programmable in three or more axes. It can be stationary or mobile

 Unimate – first programmable robot to be employed in a factory

– Developed by George Devol in 1954
– Developed further by Unimation, Inc. founded in 1956

 Unimation, Inc. was founded by Joseph Engelberger – the Father of Robotics

Robots have a certain degree or autonomy:

Partially autonomous robots – require human input

Fully autonomous robots – usually equipped with AI
7.3.2 Roboethics and Ethical Issues in Advanced Robotics

Roboethics – a field of that aims to develop scientific, cultural, and technical tools that will
encourage the beneficial use of robotics for the society and prevent its misuse against humanity

– Coined by the robot scientist Gianmarco Veruggio

Three Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov

1. A robot may not injure a human being

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence
Asimov would also later add the Zeroth Law of Robotics

“A robot should not bring harm to humanity, through action or inaction”

 Telesurgery – the surgeon and the patient are separated by long distances
 Robotic liability matrix – assigns weights to the liabilities that are to be shouldered by the
involved parties: producer, programmer, and owner.

Roboethical Issue/s: Humanoid robots

 Social Robots – capable of interacting with humans

 ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) (Honda) – a bipedal robot that is being developed
to be capable of integrating to domestic environments such as in home and offices
 Sophia (Hanson Robotics) – a human-like robot that is being developed as an AI-equipped
service and entertainment robot.
 Creators of Sophia envision a future wherein human-AI collaboration leads to symbiosis.

2017 Future Investment Summit in Saudi, Arabia – Sophia was the first robot granted a Saudi
Arabian citizenship