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6) Conclusions and Reflections

Our individual conclustions: Jack: dependent on the probability of causing an error. since faa had a backup system that should have worked, it was a reasonable decision to go forward. Additionally, the FAA should be partially at fault as well because their backup system is not properly operational. Adam: Another scenario would be that even if the backup system worked and the FAA came across the bug, the company would still get in trouble. Yet another is that it's not like the faa will pay another contractor for it. the get tough policy Zach: Will lose the larger contract since this is an initial prototype. Emmett should have told someone Angela: Emmett should have told someone. Although a lot of his coworkers worked really hard they should prioritize the lives of the pilot testers. Jonathan: On principle, I would not sign off on a product with a defect that I know could have such widespread negative consequences. John: I would have signed off on it. After hearing that ...
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5) Progress report

Progress Report: 4/28: Initial blog is created and our first hello world. Everyone is assigned a role and our roles are defined 5/22: Group plans for meetup. Everyone reads through our scenario 5/26: Group meets up and discusses the given scenario. Each member's opinion on Emmett Brown's dilemma is discussed as well as our approach for addressing the questions at hand. Team divides up the work to each member to be completed over the following week. 5/28: Dilemma summary is written up 5/29: The issues that are at hand are written up 5/31: The pragmatic approach is written up 6/1: Virtue ethics is written up 6/1: Duty ethics framework is written up 6/2: Utilitarianism framework is written up 6/2: Group meets up to finalize blog. We discussed our own personal opinion if we were in Emmett's shoes, and finished writing our conclusions and reflections. We also prepared for our roles in the presentation and started our Powerpoint and final report. TODO: Jo...
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4.4) Utilitarianism

Modern utilitarianism is the view that “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong”. The origin of this view is commonly attributed to Jeremy Bentham who advocated it in his Fragment on Government . “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. They alone point out what we ought to do and determine what we shall do; the standard of right and wrong, and the chain of causes and effects, are both fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, all we say, all we think;” An Introduction to the Principles of Moral and Legislation From this perspective of utilitarianism, Emmet should choose the course of action that provides the greatest happiness to the greatest number of individuals. The happinessess at stake are the jobs of hundreds of Occidental employees, Emmet's guilt for signing off on shoddy software, the potential deaths of the air travelers, the potential increase i...
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4.3) Deontological and Rights Ethics Perspective

This post will detail the actions that I believe Emmet should make when acting under Deontological Ethics, and under Rights Ethics Kant's Deontological Ethics is a framework of ethics which stems from following one's moral honor code with a set of rules. In Kant's Categorical Imperative, the three main rules are: "Act only according to that maxim by which you can also will that it would become a universal law." "Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end." "Every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member in a universal kingdom of ends." In this situation Emmet should act as he thinks everyone else would/should according to the first rule. This pretty clearly puts him in the position of moving to report the issue, and wait on actually deploying the software. Were ...
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4.2) Perspective of the Virtuous Stoic

For Emmet Brown, the edict to "act virtuously" likely provides little consolation and creates immediate conflict. He finds himself caught between the need to fulfill conflicting virtues: honesty to the customers of BiffCo and concern for the well-being of his coworkers and superiors, as well as a duty to support the success of his company. Clearly, hiding the potential failure of the air traffic control system represents a dishonest action not just against the FAA, but also against any members of the public involved in the testing process. Meanwhile, the virtues tying him to his company are somewhat harder to pin down, though the duty to work together with his team and the virtue in obeying the instructions of his superiors, specifically Mr. McFly, are valid considerations. Since virtue ethics emphasizes solely adherence to general positive moral traits without attention to the ultimate outcome of decisions, the consequences of each scenario are not a primary concern in Emm...
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4.1) The pragmatic approach

Pragmatism: Often, pragmatism is seen as the opposite of idealism. Context is essential in assessing the factors that make up the dilemma, and the approach emphasizes the ability to be flexible in weighing competing values. Norms, principles, and moral criteria are improved by pursuing constant inquiry, and there is no one solution fits all. Right and wrong, good and bad, are all relative to a given situation, circumstance, or personal conviction. Emmett Brown's Dilemma: To approach Emmett Brown's situation pragmatically, he should first assess and weigh all factors that come into play. These include considering the other workers who have already devoted so much time (18 hour days) and are likely dependent on maintaining their jobs to support their families. His decision can be what bankrupts his company forcing thousands to lose their jobs. There is a possibility that if he remains silent the bug won't be found out and everything runs smoothly. There is also a ...
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3) The Issues

As we saw in the last post, Emmett makes the difficult decision to approve the software, despite his knowledge of a critical bug. Let's explore what went wrong that put him in that decision, and what choices he had. Let's start when BiffCo began bidding on the FAA contract. The company knowingly underbid the project because of fierce competition, which led to the shortage of manpower and deadline crunch that eventually caused Emmett's conundrum. Was it morally justified to underbid, and then understaff the contract? The employees were concerned about their job security, due to the company's uncertain future. Does that justify the behavior, even when you know it might cause future dilemmas and compromise safety? Emmett later discovers the bug that could lead to a devastating crash. He brings it up to his boss, Martin, only to be told that they cannot possibly miss the deadline, or it would mean disaster for the entire aerospace division of BiffCo. Thousands of peopl...
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