MORAL PRINCIPLES IN ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

Pañi Zhagui Jonathan Vladimir

January 2020

Salesian Polytechnic University

Electronic Engineering
Deontology
 Abstract ii

In this report we will inform about the main moral principles in our country where ethics have as

an objective that the acts that an electronic engineer performs in a conscious and free way can be

determined as correct or incorrect. Where the engineer with his acts does not affect himself or the

rest of the individuals. Since nowadays correct professionals are required, however, in many

technical careers, such as electronic engineering, ethical values and social approach are forgotten,

prioritizing the economic and commercial part.

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Table of Contents

PRINCIPIOS MORALES EN NUESTRO PAÍS COMO INGENIERO ELECTRÓNICO ........... 1

Autonomy ................................................................................................................................... 1
Justice.......................................................................................................................................... 1
Beneficence ................................................................................................................................. 2
Nonmaleficence .......................................................................................................................... 3
Fidelity ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Example .......................................................................................................................................... 3
List of References ........................................................................................................................... 5
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PRINCIPIOS MORALES COMO INGENIERO ELECTRÓNICO

Autonomy

The electronic engineer consciously and autonomously performs actions that can be

determined as correct or incorrect. The engineer who with his actions does not affect,

neither himself nor the rest of the individuals. Although sometimes-ethical values and

social approach are forgotten, only thinking about their welfare is the economic and

commercial part. A problem with the electronic engineer can be difficult if the individual

is acting foolishly or irrationally with their projects. That is, with his decisions he affects

people and their values. Decisions that may or may not be accepted within society and

these decisions may infringe on the rights of others.

The engineer with his decisions in the creation of new technological products, respecting

the ethical values will allow a series of guarantees so that the use that humans make of the

robots does not end up being abusive, with special emphasis on the protection of the data

acquired by a robot to prevent its illegal use. For example, in the creation of projects where

a robot must not attack a human or, through its inaction, allow a human to suffer any harm.

Justice

The treatment by an electronic engineer or any other profession in a labour and social field

must be equal and fair. That is, treat everyone equally without disparaging others, despite

the differences that may exist.

An electronic engineer must provide fair and responsible use of technological objects. Such

as autonomous or military robots.

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The concern is not so much the technology, but the use that can be made of it. Therefore

we as electronic engineers must encourage the fair and responsible use of these

technologies. Respect the laws of robotics. Scientific research and technological objects

have the power to affect all of humanity. For example, the use of technology to provoke

war because it leads to innocent deaths and is not a fair use. The creation of nuclear

weapons, robots for military use that would not be respecting the robotic law or the ethical

principles of their creator.

Beneficence

The electronic engineer with the creation of technological projects for society. The

technological growth will depend much on the ethics that each creator has to develop an

efficient technology, which provides all the rules and laws so that it can not harm another

person through the machines that are implemented, the algorithms have to provide security,

efficiency, reduce costs, feasible tools for people.

Technological developments should be subject to approval and verification by society not

only on technical criteria, but also on ethical criteria. That is to say, a benefit not only for

its creator, for society.

Given this moral principle, what an electronic engineer gives as a solution to the different

ethical problems. He would be the architect of productive, physical and research projects

that change daily the living conditions of people in the world, allowing the use of scientific

and technical knowledge in the satisfaction of the population's needs: how to unite people,

narrow distances and generate productive processes that generate work and resources for

society. Although through the correct use of technology, progress can be brought to the
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community. By offering services such as: telecommunications, networks and internet, a

society can be led to educational development that would result in the progress of a

community.

Nonmaleficence

This principle encourages the idea of not causing intentional harm and not participate in

actions that may cause harm to others. Therefore, an electronic engineer in

telecommunications has the power to make illegal transmissions, theft of frequencies, and

theft of phone calls ("by pass"). While a network engineer can, if he wishes, violate private

accesses, access forbidden networks; create false databases among other activities. All

these are examples of activities that electronic professionals can follow (and many do)

simply because of lack of ethics, and for just trying to obey what is in their pockets,

forgetting about society.

Fidelity

The electronic engineer at the time of exercising his profession either in a work

environment or the creation of some project that involves a benefit for himself or this

involved the society. The solution to this problem is, first of all, to be loyal to oneself, to

my principles, to my profession, in this way I will be loyal to my environment.

This will allow me to act in a way that does not cause damage to others in their reputation,

belongings or employment through falsehoods or malicious actions. With this an electronic

engineer is prudent and fair, manifesting and communicating the truth to each according to

his rights.

Example
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For the new helicopters they brought to Ecuador, an Electronic and Systems Engineer has

just received a first version of the prototype for an event. After running many simulations,

he's seen that everything works fine, except for one small problem. When there are too

many planes in the system, some of them can get lost. That plane simply disappears from

the screen, there is no trace of it anywhere, and from that moment on it is ignored in all the

processes that check for possible collisions and in the rest of the safety tests. After

analyzing it, it is discovered that the problem is due to a very subtle error in the memory

management. It is not complicated to solve, but the redesign, coding and testing can

represent at least a month of work. He is offered the possibility of having a quick patch

developed before delivering the software, but he flatly refuses to deliver any program that

has not been thoroughly tested. Since with them he would be violating all the ethical

principles that were mentioned. The problem is that if you change any part of the

application now, you may introduce new errors that are much worse than the ones you

have, and even stop some part of the code from working. "Then the software will have to

be delivered as is," says Deborah. "I can't jeopardize this project and the hundreds of jobs

that depend on it by not delivering this application on time." "We can't do that!" exclaims

the engineer. "That's like trying to deliver a car that we know has bad brakes." "Maybe they

won't find the mistake, but I know it's there. I'd be lying if to say that the system passed all

the necessary tests. I can't do that. It would be illegal and unprofessional anyway."

A problem where the ethical principles of an engineer are at stake, where he was proposed

to deliver an incomplete program but that engineer refused because he is unprofessional

and would be risking the lives of innocent people.

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List of References

Benavides, B. (2009). Contexto social de la profesión. México, D.F.: Patria.

Berumen, N. et Al (2005) Ética del ejercicio profesional. México, D.F.:Patria.

Verbo Divino
Cortina, A. (2000). LA ÉTICA DE LA ROBÓTICA: UN PLANTEAMIENTO
NECESARIO