M.K. Dale has come up with what is an “optional oath for building ethically considered experiences” that seek to address the narcotic-like challenges of modern Internet applications. It also seeks to act as a moral counterweight to an increasingly dominant technology industry.
….we move forward not just by patching holes in current technology, but by preventing these kinds of abuses from being an option in future technology…..Even with the formidable power we wield in our day-to-day lives as engineers, designers, product managers, data scientists, etc., there is very little education and oversight on ethics in our industry…..This discovery process drove me to understand better those industries which do incorporate ethical standards into their professions, and led me create a version of the physician’s Hippocratic Oath, but for technologists.
Dale’s effort is laudable and I for one support for higher standards, higher ethics and more morality in software. It might not bring the change we need, but let’s start somewhere. Read the oath, and incorporate the values into everyday work.
