Session 6A

Since the last time we met…

Zoom shut down of activists’ accounts over Tiananmen events was
demanded by Chinese government
https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3088705/zoom-shut-down-activists-accounts-over-tiananmen-
events-was-demanded
Zoom Video Communications said on Thursday it suspended user accounts and
ended meetings linked to the anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square
crackdown on its platform after the Chinese government demanded it.

• do so.
FCC proposes record $225 million fine for
massive robocall campaign
https://www.investing.com/news/economy/fcc-
proposes-record-225-million-fine-for-massive-
robocall-campaign-2196842
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday
voted unanimously to propose a record-setting $225
million fine against Texas-based health insurance
telemarketers for allegedly making approximately 1 billion
illegal robocalls.
The FCC said robocalls falsely claimed to offer health
insurance plans from major health insurance companies
such as Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and
UnitedHealth Group.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Rising Eagle "primarily used
spoofed Caller ID numbers to flood consumers with
prerecorded calls that... misled consumers into thinking
that the calls were from well-known and reputable health
insurance providers."
Instead, consumers were offered "short-term, limited-
duration health insurance plans offered by lesser known
entities— a far cry from expectations."
What do you think?
In general, where does the Philippine population fall in terms of the stages of
moral development? How about your workplace?
1. Punishment and Obedience Orientation
2. Personal Reward Orientation
3. Interpersonal Concordance
4. Law and Order Orientation
5. Social Contract Orientation
6. Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
 WHY?
REASONS
(This means THINKING IS REQUIRED.)

Sound, Unsound,
logical illogical
Based on what we have discussed
so far, what are our “moral
blinders”?
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love,
everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was,
lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident
religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and
coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every
young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer,
every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme
leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of
dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood
spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could
become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties
visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable
inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager
they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some
privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet
is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this
vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least
in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it
or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There
is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant
image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly
with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home
we've ever known. -- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
 WHY?
REASONS
(This means THINKING IS REQUIRED.)

Sound, Unsound,
logical illogical
FACTS, OBJECTIVITY/IMPARTIALITY, OPEN BUT DISCERNING MIND,
FORESIGHT, KNOWLEDGE, HUMILITY, STANDARDS.
Approaches to Ethics
You are a salesperson and you have a product that everyone wants to buy. When you open your shop a horde
of buyers descends on it and creates chaos. Will you allow the chaos to persist?
You want order to prevail over your selling what can you do to achieve
that?
Now that everyone is lined up, you conclude that there will be enough
products for everyone who wants to buy. You observe that there are
elderly folk who are having a difficult time lining up so you make a
separate and faster line for the elderly. Is this wrong?
Now you have two lines, you see your brother and sister lined up in the
regular line. You fight the urge to move them up the line and instead let
them stay where they are. Why is this right?
You discover that your product is
crap.. You do not tell the buyers
however and soon some of them
discover harmful effects from its
use. Good or bad?

You also continue to sell the

product. Anything wrong with this?
Approaches to ethics

•Utilitarianism
•Rights
•Justice and fairness
•Care
•Virtue
Hero or villain?
Hero or villain?
What do you think?
Imagine the following scenario. A prominent and
much-loved leader has been rushed to the hospital,
grievously wounded by an assassin’s bullet. He needs
a heart and lung transplant immediately to survive.
No suitable donors are available, but there is a
homeless person in the emergency room who is being
kept alive on a respirator, who probably has only a few
days to live, and who is a perfect donor. Without the
transplant, the leader will die; the homeless person
will die in a few days anyway. Security at the hospital
is very well controlled. The transplant team could
hasten the death of the homeless person and carry
out the transplant without the public ever knowing
that they killed the homeless person for his organs.
What should they do?
The Utilitarian Approach
Some ethicists emphasize that the ethical action
is the one that provides the most good or does
the least harm, or, to put it another way,
maximizes benefits and lessens harm.
The utilitarian approach deals with
consequences; it tries both to increase the
good done and to reduce the possible harm.
Basic Insights of Utilitarianism

• The purpose of morality is to make the world a better place.

• We should do whatever will bring the most benefit to all of humanity.
• Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions.
In pursuing your business
objectives, what benefits do you
seek and harms do you avoid?
For Friday
• Read the assigned article: Bridge Paper on Moral Imagination
• Read up on Enterprise Risk Management
• Read up on Systems Thinking