WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.570 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.570 --> 00:00:02.370 align:middle line:84% The following content is provided 00:00:02.370 --> 00:00:06.330 align:middle line:84% by MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license. 00:00:06.330 --> 00:00:08.430 align:middle line:84% Additional information about our license 00:00:08.430 --> 00:00:10.800 align:middle line:84% and MIT OpenCourseWare in general 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.720 align:middle line:90% is available at ocw.mit.edu. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:15.390 align:middle line:90% 00:00:15.390 --> 00:00:19.338 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: OK, Well, hello, Dr. Broome. 00:00:19.338 --> 00:00:23.520 align:middle line:84% [LAUGHS] Today I'll provide you with an overview of the work 00:00:23.520 --> 00:00:27.630 align:middle line:84% I've done for my term project on the ethics of engineering 00:00:27.630 --> 00:00:30.420 align:middle line:90% for international development. 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:32.970 align:middle line:84% I should note that engineering for international development 00:00:32.970 --> 00:00:35.760 align:middle line:84% is not a term of art, as you suggested. 00:00:35.760 --> 00:00:37.230 align:middle line:84% But these are just the four words 00:00:37.230 --> 00:00:40.590 align:middle line:84% that most concisely describe the use of engineering 00:00:40.590 --> 00:00:43.860 align:middle line:84% to meet social, health, and economic needs 00:00:43.860 --> 00:00:48.690 align:middle line:84% in developing communities outside of the United States. 00:00:48.690 --> 00:00:51.690 align:middle line:84% To understand my title, it might help you 00:00:51.690 --> 00:00:54.150 align:middle line:84% if I tell you that an alternative description 00:00:54.150 --> 00:00:55.860 align:middle line:84% for my talk could have been the ethics 00:00:55.860 --> 00:01:00.270 align:middle line:84% of humanitarian engineering in less developed. countries. 00:01:00.270 --> 00:01:02.820 align:middle line:84% Humanitarian engineering is the term 00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:06.060 align:middle line:84% that some engineers are using for pro bono engineering 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:09.000 align:middle line:84% service projects in developing communities, 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.300 align:middle line:84% usually in Africa, Latin America, 00:01:12.300 --> 00:01:14.280 align:middle line:90% and Southern and Eastern Asia. 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:15.900 align:middle line:84% This term is being used officially 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:18.390 align:middle line:84% at the Colorado School of Mines, where they now 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:24.790 align:middle line:84% offer an undergraduate minor in humanitarian engineering. 00:01:24.790 --> 00:01:26.860 align:middle line:84% But whichever words I use today, I'm 00:01:26.860 --> 00:01:29.920 align:middle line:84% trying to describe the application of engineering 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:32.560 align:middle line:84% to the design and dissemination of technology that 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:34.750 align:middle line:84% meets the most basic human needs of people 00:01:34.750 --> 00:01:39.640 align:middle line:84% in developing countries, in resource-poor countries. 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.930 align:middle line:84% So I'll continue today with a discussion of the motivation 00:01:42.930 --> 00:01:43.710 align:middle line:90% for my project. 00:01:43.710 --> 00:01:45.570 align:middle line:84% What problem am I trying to solve? 00:01:45.570 --> 00:01:48.480 align:middle line:84% Then I'll bring us up to speed on some vocabulary. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.630 align:middle line:84% I'll introduce three motivating cases of engineering 00:01:51.630 --> 00:01:53.760 align:middle line:90% for international development. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.590 align:middle line:84% And these cases will serve as a springboard 00:01:55.590 --> 00:01:57.900 align:middle line:84% for a discussion of the main ethical issues 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:00.210 align:middle line:84% that face engineers that are intervening 00:02:00.210 --> 00:02:01.950 align:middle line:90% in developing communities. 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:03.630 align:middle line:84% Then we'll look at some possible answers 00:02:03.630 --> 00:02:06.360 align:middle line:84% to those ethical questions from various sources 00:02:06.360 --> 00:02:08.070 align:middle line:90% in the literature. 00:02:08.070 --> 00:02:10.470 align:middle line:84% And then I'll synthesize those answers-- 00:02:10.470 --> 00:02:13.230 align:middle line:84% excuse me-- and try to propose an ethical analysis 00:02:13.230 --> 00:02:16.560 align:middle line:84% that real engineers can use in the field. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.870 align:middle line:84% And then I'll test out that method on a recent case 00:02:18.870 --> 00:02:20.340 align:middle line:90% from my own experience. 00:02:20.340 --> 00:02:28.010 align:middle line:90% 00:02:28.010 --> 00:02:31.490 align:middle line:84% So what does engineering have to do 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:33.470 align:middle line:90% with international development? 00:02:33.470 --> 00:02:36.230 align:middle line:84% And why do we need extra study of ethics 00:02:36.230 --> 00:02:38.432 align:middle line:90% for this type of engineering? 00:02:38.432 --> 00:02:40.640 align:middle line:84% So let's start with an authoritative body, the United 00:02:40.640 --> 00:02:41.630 align:middle line:90% Nations. 00:02:41.630 --> 00:02:45.710 align:middle line:84% In September of 2000, all of the member countries of the UN 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:47.780 align:middle line:84% signed the Millennium Declaration, 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:52.190 align:middle line:84% which set forth eight goals for alleviating 00:02:52.190 --> 00:02:54.950 align:middle line:90% much human suffering by 2015. 00:02:54.950 --> 00:02:57.050 align:middle line:84% And these eight targets are called the Millennium 00:02:57.050 --> 00:02:59.750 align:middle line:90% Development Goals, or MDGs. 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:04.760 align:middle line:84% They involve cutting the hunger rate in half, 00:03:04.760 --> 00:03:07.100 align:middle line:84% providing universal education, and combating 00:03:07.100 --> 00:03:10.770 align:middle line:84% preventable diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. 00:03:10.770 --> 00:03:17.305 align:middle line:84% This chart on this slide is from the 2005 report on the MDGs. 00:03:17.305 --> 00:03:18.680 align:middle line:84% So every year, the United Nations 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:20.540 align:middle line:84% issues a report on how they're doing. 00:03:20.540 --> 00:03:23.750 align:middle line:84% And this just shows you that in Sub-Saharan Africa, 00:03:23.750 --> 00:03:28.940 align:middle line:84% 33% of the people, and in Asia, 10% to 20% of the people 00:03:28.940 --> 00:03:31.830 align:middle line:84% don't have access to enough calories every day. 00:03:31.830 --> 00:03:34.730 align:middle line:84% So this is just one example of the real problems that 00:03:34.730 --> 00:03:36.290 align:middle line:90% exist in the developing world. 00:03:36.290 --> 00:03:39.390 align:middle line:84% To combat extreme hunger and other problems, 00:03:39.390 --> 00:03:43.030 align:middle line:90% the UN set the MDGs. 00:03:43.030 --> 00:03:46.780 align:middle line:84% So now, to solve these eight problems listed in MDGs, 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:50.470 align:middle line:84% the international community will absolutely need technologies. 00:03:50.470 --> 00:03:53.110 align:middle line:84% So engineers who create technologies 00:03:53.110 --> 00:03:56.170 align:middle line:84% are essential to the accomplishment of the MDGs. 00:03:56.170 --> 00:03:58.320 align:middle line:84% And many engineers are starting to realize this, 00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:00.070 align:middle line:84% are starting to realize that they can help 00:04:00.070 --> 00:04:01.900 align:middle line:90% the world achieve the MDGs. 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:03.530 align:middle line:84% And they're trying to get involved. 00:04:03.530 --> 00:04:06.460 align:middle line:84% So every year, there are new pro bono engineering service 00:04:06.460 --> 00:04:08.740 align:middle line:84% projects and new faculty and student 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:11.420 align:middle line:84% humanitarian engineering projects. 00:04:11.420 --> 00:04:15.430 align:middle line:84% However, both the professional and the student engineers 00:04:15.430 --> 00:04:17.589 align:middle line:84% often venture off to developing countries 00:04:17.589 --> 00:04:20.950 align:middle line:84% without any ethical training, as you know, and certainly 00:04:20.950 --> 00:04:23.620 align:middle line:84% without any training in the unique ethical dilemmas 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:25.420 align:middle line:84% that face engineers who are practicing 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:27.778 align:middle line:90% cross-country engineering. 00:04:27.778 --> 00:04:28.945 align:middle line:90% So let's look at an example. 00:04:28.945 --> 00:04:32.970 align:middle line:90% 00:04:32.970 --> 00:04:35.240 align:middle line:84% Let's look at Engineers Without Borders USA, 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:37.880 align:middle line:84% which is a new non-profit organization, 00:04:37.880 --> 00:04:41.120 align:middle line:84% a humanitarian organization founded in the year 2000 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.390 align:middle line:84% by Dr. Bernard Amadei, who is faculty at UC Colorado Boulder. 00:04:46.390 --> 00:04:49.600 align:middle line:84% So the stated mission of Engineers Without Borders 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:52.240 align:middle line:84% is to improve the quality of life in developing countries 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.680 align:middle line:90% and help meet the MDGs. 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:56.110 align:middle line:84% And their stated vision is a world 00:04:56.110 --> 00:04:59.320 align:middle line:84% where all people have access to the knowledge and resources 00:04:59.320 --> 00:05:04.180 align:middle line:84% with which to meet their basic human needs, very lofty goals. 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:06.580 align:middle line:84% And they state that they're going 00:05:06.580 --> 00:05:08.680 align:middle line:84% to need to follow six requirements to meet 00:05:08.680 --> 00:05:09.315 align:middle line:90% that vision. 00:05:09.315 --> 00:05:11.440 align:middle line:84% And ethics, as we were talking about the other day, 00:05:11.440 --> 00:05:13.838 align:middle line:84% is one of the requirements they think 00:05:13.838 --> 00:05:15.130 align:middle line:90% they think they have to follow. 00:05:15.130 --> 00:05:18.370 align:middle line:84% Now let's look at how they define ethics-- 00:05:18.370 --> 00:05:21.050 align:middle line:90% 00:05:21.050 --> 00:05:24.470 align:middle line:84% so the promotion of honesty, communication, 00:05:24.470 --> 00:05:28.580 align:middle line:84% and forthright disclosure, human dignity, value, and diversity, 00:05:28.580 --> 00:05:32.300 align:middle line:84% social responsibility, and appropriate action, fairness 00:05:32.300 --> 00:05:34.710 align:middle line:84% and equitable distribution of time, effort, 00:05:34.710 --> 00:05:37.550 align:middle line:84% and resources, sharing skills and resources, 00:05:37.550 --> 00:05:39.560 align:middle line:84% and promotion of the ideal that people 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:42.600 align:middle line:84% should not be exploited in any form whatsoever. 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:46.190 align:middle line:90% Now these are great values. 00:05:46.190 --> 00:05:50.540 align:middle line:84% But what happens when, for instance, the promotion 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:54.110 align:middle line:84% of the equitable distribution of time conflicts with respecting 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:55.250 align:middle line:90% someone's human dignity? 00:05:55.250 --> 00:05:57.217 align:middle line:84% Sometimes to respect one person's dignity, 00:05:57.217 --> 00:05:59.300 align:middle line:84% you have to give them more time and more resources 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:00.480 align:middle line:90% than other people. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:02.750 align:middle line:84% So there's a lot of potential conflicts here. 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:05.540 align:middle line:84% And how are Engineers Without Borders members 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:08.360 align:middle line:84% prepared to deal with those conflicts? 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:11.770 align:middle line:84% So I think this example shows us that Engineers Without Borders 00:06:11.770 --> 00:06:14.620 align:middle line:84% has indeed considered the ethics of their intervention 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:17.890 align:middle line:90% in developing communities. 00:06:17.890 --> 00:06:20.770 align:middle line:84% And they have good intentions, but they lack pragmatism. 00:06:20.770 --> 00:06:22.580 align:middle line:90% And they lack justification. 00:06:22.580 --> 00:06:25.330 align:middle line:84% So we must ask, what are the ethical traditions? 00:06:25.330 --> 00:06:28.510 align:middle line:84% What is the justification for this code of ethics? 00:06:28.510 --> 00:06:30.430 align:middle line:84% And how is Engineers Without Borders 00:06:30.430 --> 00:06:33.910 align:middle line:84% providing its members tools to actually carry out 00:06:33.910 --> 00:06:35.935 align:middle line:84% these ambitious so-called ethics? 00:06:35.935 --> 00:06:41.110 align:middle line:90% 00:06:41.110 --> 00:06:43.800 align:middle line:84% So this example of Engineers Without Borders 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.500 align:middle line:84% unsupported ethical intentions is just 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:49.020 align:middle line:84% one piece of the large amount of evidence 00:06:49.020 --> 00:06:52.680 align:middle line:84% that we need to do work, scholarship, to help engineers 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:55.020 align:middle line:84% who are developing and disseminating technologies 00:06:55.020 --> 00:06:56.970 align:middle line:90% in developing communities. 00:06:56.970 --> 00:06:59.040 align:middle line:84% First, we need to do some descriptive ethics, 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.210 align:middle line:90% as you helped me realize. 00:07:00.210 --> 00:07:03.000 align:middle line:84% What ethical issues are faced by those 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.370 align:middle line:84% who practice engineering in developing communities? 00:07:05.370 --> 00:07:08.220 align:middle line:84% And then second, we need to do normative ethics. 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:10.530 align:middle line:84% What should engineers do when they actually 00:07:10.530 --> 00:07:13.480 align:middle line:90% face these issues? 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:16.210 align:middle line:84% So before I tackle those two questions, 00:07:16.210 --> 00:07:18.690 align:middle line:84% let me pause for some definitions. 00:07:18.690 --> 00:07:21.210 align:middle line:84% So when I say international development today, 00:07:21.210 --> 00:07:26.430 align:middle line:84% I mean positive changes in the quality of life of a society 00:07:26.430 --> 00:07:30.240 align:middle line:84% and its members in both the social and economic sense, 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.360 align:middle line:84% implying the right for people to access 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.490 align:middle line:84% the resources of their society and the right 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:38.870 align:middle line:84% to choose between alternative resources. 00:07:38.870 --> 00:07:42.350 align:middle line:84% When I say paternalism today, I'm referring to the attitude 00:07:42.350 --> 00:07:44.030 align:middle line:84% that one group has when it believes 00:07:44.030 --> 00:07:46.760 align:middle line:84% it can decide what's best for another group 00:07:46.760 --> 00:07:50.010 align:middle line:84% that it perceives to be less capable. 00:07:50.010 --> 00:07:52.230 align:middle line:84% And assistance is the word that is often 00:07:52.230 --> 00:07:55.200 align:middle line:84% used to describe the responsibility of more 00:07:55.200 --> 00:07:57.450 align:middle line:84% affluent countries to provide tax finance 00:07:57.450 --> 00:07:59.170 align:middle line:90% aid to poor countries. 00:07:59.170 --> 00:08:01.920 align:middle line:84% Humanitarian engineering would fall under the category 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.130 align:middle line:90% of technical assistance. 00:08:04.130 --> 00:08:06.580 align:middle line:84% So what organizations are doing these things, 00:08:06.580 --> 00:08:08.030 align:middle line:90% are using these words? 00:08:08.030 --> 00:08:11.980 align:middle line:84% We have the United States Agency for International Development, 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:13.520 align:middle line:90% which I know you know about. 00:08:13.520 --> 00:08:18.160 align:middle line:84% And then the World Bank is owned by 184 member countries. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:24.340 align:middle line:84% And it provides interest-free credit, low interest loans, 00:08:24.340 --> 00:08:26.470 align:middle line:84% and grants to developing countries for education 00:08:26.470 --> 00:08:28.930 align:middle line:90% and infrastructure health. 00:08:28.930 --> 00:08:30.430 align:middle line:84% You know about the United Nations. 00:08:30.430 --> 00:08:32.140 align:middle line:84% And the World Health Organization 00:08:32.140 --> 00:08:34.390 align:middle line:84% is their specialized health agency. 00:08:34.390 --> 00:08:37.539 align:middle line:84% And then we have some non-profit humanitarian engineering 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:38.409 align:middle line:90% organizations. 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:44.230 align:middle line:90% 00:08:44.230 --> 00:08:48.400 align:middle line:84% So how is ethics involved in these humanitarian engineering 00:08:48.400 --> 00:08:49.030 align:middle line:90% projects? 00:08:49.030 --> 00:08:51.070 align:middle line:84% Let's do some descriptive ethics. 00:08:51.070 --> 00:08:54.160 align:middle line:84% So here's our first case of humanitarian engineering 00:08:54.160 --> 00:08:55.930 align:middle line:90% gone wrong. 00:08:55.930 --> 00:09:00.010 align:middle line:84% As we talked about, when people from the United States 00:09:00.010 --> 00:09:01.930 align:middle line:84% learn that in developing communities 00:09:01.930 --> 00:09:03.790 align:middle line:84% some people go out into the fields 00:09:03.790 --> 00:09:05.663 align:middle line:84% to get rid of their waste, the engineers 00:09:05.663 --> 00:09:08.080 align:middle line:84% from the United States decide this is a problem, something 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:09.490 align:middle line:90% that needs to be fixed. 00:09:09.490 --> 00:09:12.160 align:middle line:84% And in a paternalistic fashion, they often 00:09:12.160 --> 00:09:15.725 align:middle line:84% decide that the communities need to build latrines. 00:09:15.725 --> 00:09:17.350 align:middle line:84% But they kill two birds with one stone. 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:19.300 align:middle line:84% They suggest composting latrines. 00:09:19.300 --> 00:09:21.520 align:middle line:84% So there's a safe place for humans 00:09:21.520 --> 00:09:22.690 align:middle line:90% to get rid of their waste. 00:09:22.690 --> 00:09:24.700 align:middle line:84% And we can use that waste to fertilize 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:26.710 align:middle line:90% the fields for farming. 00:09:26.710 --> 00:09:30.100 align:middle line:84% It sounds like a good idea, as you suggested also an old idea. 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:33.220 align:middle line:84% Even though humanitarian engineering is a trendy term, 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:37.200 align:middle line:84% the technologies themselves are old. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:38.460 align:middle line:90% So it sounds like a good idea. 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:41.340 align:middle line:84% But if the local people don't internalize 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:44.760 align:middle line:84% all of the messages associated with composting latrines, 00:09:44.760 --> 00:09:48.230 align:middle line:84% all the messages about sealing and proper ventilation, 00:09:48.230 --> 00:09:50.430 align:middle line:84% the latrines turn into a disease factory, 00:09:50.430 --> 00:09:55.030 align:middle line:84% a breeding ground for flies, mosquitoes, bacteria, 00:09:55.030 --> 00:09:56.760 align:middle line:90% parasites. 00:09:56.760 --> 00:09:58.320 align:middle line:84% So the situation actually becomes 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.197 align:middle line:84% much more dangerous to public health 00:10:00.197 --> 00:10:02.280 align:middle line:84% than when people were just going out to the fields 00:10:02.280 --> 00:10:04.180 align:middle line:90% to get rid of their waste. 00:10:04.180 --> 00:10:06.510 align:middle line:84% So are the engineers who install these composting 00:10:06.510 --> 00:10:09.520 align:middle line:90% latrines morally culpable? 00:10:09.520 --> 00:10:14.570 align:middle line:84% Here's another case of a technology 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:18.020 align:middle line:84% failing because the entire set of messages wasn't conveyed. 00:10:18.020 --> 00:10:21.440 align:middle line:84% It's what I call the 3/4 ring beam. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:23.540 align:middle line:84% Ring beams are continuous beams-- 00:10:23.540 --> 00:10:25.040 align:middle line:84% you probably know about this-- which 00:10:25.040 --> 00:10:28.640 align:middle line:84% sit on top of external walls to tie a whole building together 00:10:28.640 --> 00:10:30.320 align:middle line:84% to help support it during an earthquake 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:33.260 align:middle line:84% to prevent it from collapse during an earthquake. 00:10:33.260 --> 00:10:35.800 align:middle line:84% In one community in Yemen, engineers 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:38.980 align:middle line:84% went in and taught the people about ring beams. 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:43.120 align:middle line:84% But they missed the message, the essential message, 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:44.680 align:middle line:84% that the beam has to be continuous 00:10:44.680 --> 00:10:45.880 align:middle line:90% around the whole house. 00:10:45.880 --> 00:10:49.210 align:middle line:84% And many houses were built with the beam on only three 00:10:49.210 --> 00:10:50.530 align:middle line:90% of the four walls. 00:10:50.530 --> 00:10:53.290 align:middle line:84% So now this doesn't provide any extra strength. 00:10:53.290 --> 00:10:55.600 align:middle line:84% All it provides is a false sense of security 00:10:55.600 --> 00:11:00.330 align:middle line:84% that the family will be protected during an earthquake. 00:11:00.330 --> 00:11:03.443 align:middle line:84% So again, are the engineers morally culpable? 00:11:03.443 --> 00:11:05.360 align:middle line:84% And we looked at these pictures the other day, 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:07.850 align:middle line:84% more evidence of humanitarian engineers 00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:11.680 align:middle line:84% failing to consider the ethical dimensions of their work. 00:11:11.680 --> 00:11:13.890 align:middle line:84% So this is from an automated flood warning system 00:11:13.890 --> 00:11:15.540 align:middle line:90% project in Honduras. 00:11:15.540 --> 00:11:19.650 align:middle line:84% And in the left photo, we talked about the fact 00:11:19.650 --> 00:11:22.260 align:middle line:84% that there's a Honduran metal worker on top 00:11:22.260 --> 00:11:25.710 align:middle line:84% of a ladder, which is supported by people 00:11:25.710 --> 00:11:28.650 align:middle line:84% in a boat on top of 20 feet of water in a rushing river. 00:11:28.650 --> 00:11:31.800 align:middle line:84% And he's drilling in the concrete. 00:11:31.800 --> 00:11:32.680 align:middle line:90% This is not safe. 00:11:32.680 --> 00:11:33.570 align:middle line:90% What if he fell? 00:11:33.570 --> 00:11:36.510 align:middle line:84% He's installing a sensor that US engineers 00:11:36.510 --> 00:11:38.520 align:middle line:90% built and asked him to install. 00:11:38.520 --> 00:11:42.120 align:middle line:84% Would those engineers be culpable if anything happened? 00:11:42.120 --> 00:11:44.730 align:middle line:84% In the middle, he's rappelling off a bridge 00:11:44.730 --> 00:11:46.530 align:middle line:90% in not very safe conditions. 00:11:46.530 --> 00:11:48.180 align:middle line:84% And on the right, we have a mixture 00:11:48.180 --> 00:11:50.400 align:middle line:84% of US engineers and local engineers 00:11:50.400 --> 00:11:54.000 align:middle line:84% installing a radio tower with simple rock-climbing harnesses 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.100 align:middle line:84% and one person on the ground supporting them. 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.800 align:middle line:84% This would not pass US safety standards. 00:11:58.800 --> 00:12:05.840 align:middle line:84% What would be the result if someone was hurt? 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.230 align:middle line:84% So for me, these three cases illustrate 00:12:08.230 --> 00:12:10.630 align:middle line:84% some potentially very bad consequences, 00:12:10.630 --> 00:12:14.740 align:middle line:84% consequences that could cause harm or destroy human life. 00:12:14.740 --> 00:12:18.060 align:middle line:90% And for me, they lead-- 00:12:18.060 --> 00:12:23.500 align:middle line:84% it's OK, just getting to the big ethical questions. 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:26.920 align:middle line:84% So for me, these cases lead to the three categories 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:30.620 align:middle line:84% of questions that humanitarian engineers should be asking. 00:12:30.620 --> 00:12:34.850 align:middle line:84% First, they should ask, given the poverty, hunger and disease 00:12:34.850 --> 00:12:38.120 align:middle line:84% in the developing world and given my relative wealth 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:42.920 align:middle line:84% and surplus of engineering skills, technical expertise, 00:12:42.920 --> 00:12:45.260 align:middle line:84% am I obligated to lend those surplus 00:12:45.260 --> 00:12:48.110 align:middle line:84% skills to international development work? 00:12:48.110 --> 00:12:50.660 align:middle line:84% On the other hand, given that I don't understand 00:12:50.660 --> 00:12:53.210 align:middle line:84% the local culture and living situations, 00:12:53.210 --> 00:12:56.270 align:middle line:84% and given that I could do harm by intervening, 00:12:56.270 --> 00:12:59.960 align:middle line:84% is it even morally permissible, acceptable, for me to go? 00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:01.550 align:middle line:84% The second category of questions, 00:13:01.550 --> 00:13:05.540 align:middle line:84% once I decide to go, what regulations should I follow? 00:13:05.540 --> 00:13:08.060 align:middle line:84% Do international regulations take priority? 00:13:08.060 --> 00:13:10.900 align:middle line:84% Or local customs, do they take priority? 00:13:10.900 --> 00:13:12.710 align:middle line:84% Then the third category of questions 00:13:12.710 --> 00:13:18.570 align:middle line:84% is, how will I know if those actions end up 00:13:18.570 --> 00:13:22.860 align:middle line:84% being harmful or paternalistic or protective? 00:13:22.860 --> 00:13:27.320 align:middle line:84% How can I prevent the harm and the paternalism? 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:30.830 align:middle line:84% So now with these cases I've exemplified these questions. 00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:32.970 align:middle line:90% And I've summarized them here. 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:35.000 align:middle line:84% Now I want to move into normative ethics 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.220 align:middle line:84% and share with you some solutions 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:39.890 align:middle line:84% to these issues suggested by a variety of experts. 00:13:39.890 --> 00:13:42.680 align:middle line:90% 00:13:42.680 --> 00:13:45.470 align:middle line:84% So first, we'll look at the first question. 00:13:45.470 --> 00:13:48.770 align:middle line:84% Is there a moral obligation to lend engineering expertise 00:13:48.770 --> 00:13:51.230 align:middle line:90% to suffering people? 00:13:51.230 --> 00:13:53.104 align:middle line:90% Gail, I have a handout for you. 00:13:53.104 --> 00:13:56.760 align:middle line:90% 00:13:56.760 --> 00:13:57.555 align:middle line:90% There you go. 00:13:57.555 --> 00:14:02.160 align:middle line:90% 00:14:02.160 --> 00:14:04.050 align:middle line:84% So not surprisingly, philosophers 00:14:04.050 --> 00:14:05.760 align:middle line:84% have the most to say about this matter 00:14:05.760 --> 00:14:09.730 align:middle line:84% because it's the most abstract high level. 00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:13.570 align:middle line:84% In his 1972 article, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," 00:14:13.570 --> 00:14:16.630 align:middle line:84% Peter Singer argued that humans have 00:14:16.630 --> 00:14:20.440 align:middle line:84% a universal moral obligation to contribute any surplus-- 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.630 align:middle line:84% and he was talking financial surplus-- 00:14:22.630 --> 00:14:26.520 align:middle line:84% that they have toward alleviating global poverty. 00:14:26.520 --> 00:14:29.040 align:middle line:84% Later, reflecting on Singer's position, 00:14:29.040 --> 00:14:32.670 align:middle line:84% O'Neill claims that individuals and states might not 00:14:32.670 --> 00:14:36.192 align:middle line:84% be capable of combating global poverty. 00:14:36.192 --> 00:14:37.650 align:middle line:84% Individuals and states are actually 00:14:37.650 --> 00:14:39.330 align:middle line:90% quite weak in some cases. 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:42.630 align:middle line:84% But there might be certain professions 00:14:42.630 --> 00:14:47.250 align:middle line:84% that do have the special skills to combat global poverty. 00:14:47.250 --> 00:14:48.750 align:middle line:84% And I suggest that engineering might 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:52.060 align:middle line:84% be one of those professions with those special skills. 00:14:52.060 --> 00:14:54.990 align:middle line:84% Another philosopher, Pogge, supporting O'Neill, 00:14:54.990 --> 00:14:57.390 align:middle line:84% argues that the redistribution of wealth 00:14:57.390 --> 00:14:59.940 align:middle line:84% is not enough to make poor countries richer, 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:02.430 align:middle line:84% to cause international development to happen. 00:15:02.430 --> 00:15:04.260 align:middle line:84% People in foreign affluent countries 00:15:04.260 --> 00:15:07.740 align:middle line:84% have to also change their behavior and their policies. 00:15:07.740 --> 00:15:10.080 align:middle line:84% So that might mean going there more often. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.840 align:middle line:90% 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:16.470 align:middle line:84% Besides academic philosophers, I think that the United Nations 00:15:16.470 --> 00:15:18.600 align:middle line:84% also has something to say about whether engineers 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:22.380 align:middle line:84% are obligated to share their skills if they're able. 00:15:22.380 --> 00:15:24.090 align:middle line:84% One look at the Millennium Development 00:15:24.090 --> 00:15:28.140 align:middle line:84% Goals and their indicators, which are partly shown here 00:15:28.140 --> 00:15:30.970 align:middle line:84% on the slide, and one look at them 00:15:30.970 --> 00:15:33.580 align:middle line:84% tells you that technologies and engineers 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:36.970 align:middle line:84% are essential to the success of the MDGs. 00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:39.670 align:middle line:84% So simply by signing on to the MDGs, 00:15:39.670 --> 00:15:43.270 align:middle line:84% I think that the more developed countries in the United Nations 00:15:43.270 --> 00:15:45.340 align:middle line:84% are saying that the engineers in their countries 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:46.862 align:middle line:90% are obligated to help out. 00:15:46.862 --> 00:15:48.070 align:middle line:90% The countries have signed on. 00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:49.487 align:middle line:84% Then the people in their countries 00:15:49.487 --> 00:15:52.060 align:middle line:90% have also signed on to the MDGs. 00:15:52.060 --> 00:15:55.040 align:middle line:90% 00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:56.840 align:middle line:84% Onto the next category of questions 00:15:56.840 --> 00:15:59.480 align:middle line:84% for the humanitarian engineer, if I'm 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:02.270 align:middle line:84% a humanitarian engineer, what regulations, what standards, 00:16:02.270 --> 00:16:03.890 align:middle line:84% what customs am I supposed to follow? 00:16:03.890 --> 00:16:06.720 align:middle line:90% What takes priority? 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.930 align:middle line:84% Well, I want to suggest that one source of knowledge 00:16:08.930 --> 00:16:12.780 align:middle line:84% for these types of questions is international law. 00:16:12.780 --> 00:16:15.560 align:middle line:84% So here is a list of international legal principles 00:16:15.560 --> 00:16:18.260 align:middle line:84% that could guide engineers who are working 00:16:18.260 --> 00:16:20.270 align:middle line:90% in cross-country situations. 00:16:20.270 --> 00:16:22.940 align:middle line:84% A more precise document is the International Bill 00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:25.880 align:middle line:84% of Rights, which actually consists of three documents, 00:16:25.880 --> 00:16:28.640 align:middle line:84% all adopted by the United Nations General Assembly 00:16:28.640 --> 00:16:31.490 align:middle line:90% in various years. 00:16:31.490 --> 00:16:34.430 align:middle line:84% And since these were signed on to 00:16:34.430 --> 00:16:37.550 align:middle line:84% by all of the member countries in the UN, 00:16:37.550 --> 00:16:39.710 align:middle line:84% I think the articles in this Universal 00:16:39.710 --> 00:16:44.400 align:middle line:84% Declaration of Human Rights can override local customs. 00:16:44.400 --> 00:16:48.120 align:middle line:84% All the countries signed on to it. 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.580 align:middle line:84% Now onto the third category of ethical issues 00:16:50.580 --> 00:16:54.180 align:middle line:84% for intervening engineers, am I doing harm? 00:16:54.180 --> 00:16:57.180 align:middle line:84% Or am I engaging in arrogant paternalism? 00:16:57.180 --> 00:16:59.670 align:middle line:84% Or am I actually providing for the protection 00:16:59.670 --> 00:17:00.795 align:middle line:90% of well-being in humans? 00:17:00.795 --> 00:17:05.700 align:middle line:90% 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:09.210 align:middle line:84% So here's where academics from various disciplines 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:11.310 align:middle line:90% have written the most. 00:17:11.310 --> 00:17:15.329 align:middle line:84% Schumacher exhorts us to acknowledge that development 00:17:15.329 --> 00:17:16.950 align:middle line:84% does not start with goods, does not 00:17:16.950 --> 00:17:18.660 align:middle line:90% start with the technologies. 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:21.750 align:middle line:84% But rather, it starts with people and their education, 00:17:21.750 --> 00:17:23.450 align:middle line:90% organization, and disciplines. 00:17:23.450 --> 00:17:26.290 align:middle line:90% 00:17:26.290 --> 00:17:29.820 align:middle line:84% Tavis, a business scholar at Notre Dame, 00:17:29.820 --> 00:17:31.980 align:middle line:84% insists that when a person engages 00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:35.100 align:middle line:84% in a multinational venture, he or she 00:17:35.100 --> 00:17:39.480 align:middle line:84% is responsible for learning more about the local quality 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:40.200 align:middle line:90% of life. 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:42.060 align:middle line:84% The multinational professional must 00:17:42.060 --> 00:17:44.100 align:middle line:84% know about the circumstances of the poor 00:17:44.100 --> 00:17:48.310 align:middle line:84% in order to be developmentally responsive, says Tavis. 00:17:48.310 --> 00:17:50.570 align:middle line:84% Finally, Harris, an engineering ethics scholar 00:17:50.570 --> 00:17:55.130 align:middle line:84% that we have read, suggests that to be ethical, 00:17:55.130 --> 00:17:58.250 align:middle line:84% the engineer needs to realize that the public is 00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:02.060 align:middle line:84% those people who are vulnerable to the effects of technology 00:18:02.060 --> 00:18:05.270 align:middle line:84% through the lack of political or financial power, 00:18:05.270 --> 00:18:07.970 align:middle line:84% the lack of information, lack of technical training, 00:18:07.970 --> 00:18:09.710 align:middle line:84% or lack of time for deliberation. 00:18:09.710 --> 00:18:12.200 align:middle line:84% And the engineer needs to be aware of all those potential 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:12.700 align:middle line:90% lacks. 00:18:12.700 --> 00:18:16.650 align:middle line:90% 00:18:16.650 --> 00:18:20.790 align:middle line:84% Now while these ivory tower academic arguments are helpful, 00:18:20.790 --> 00:18:22.800 align:middle line:84% I have more confidence in the suggestions 00:18:22.800 --> 00:18:24.630 align:middle line:84% from organizations that are dedicated 00:18:24.630 --> 00:18:26.320 align:middle line:90% to international development. 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:28.770 align:middle line:84% So we could choose to follow the United States 00:18:28.770 --> 00:18:31.950 align:middle line:84% Agency for International Development, USAID's nine 00:18:31.950 --> 00:18:35.400 align:middle line:84% principles of development and reconstruction assistance. 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.370 align:middle line:84% Or we could follow the World Bank's advice 00:18:38.370 --> 00:18:41.010 align:middle line:84% to rely heavily on community participation 00:18:41.010 --> 00:18:43.500 align:middle line:84% when we define technology requirements in developing 00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:45.070 align:middle line:90% communities. 00:18:45.070 --> 00:18:47.200 align:middle line:84% Finally, we could take a cue from the Village Earth 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:51.550 align:middle line:84% consortium or other non-profit engineering organizations. 00:18:51.550 --> 00:18:55.640 align:middle line:84% Their guiding philosophy states that technologies 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:57.400 align:middle line:84% for developing communities should always 00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:01.330 align:middle line:84% start with a need defined by the local village. 00:19:01.330 --> 00:19:04.870 align:middle line:84% They should always rely on local supplies and know-how. 00:19:04.870 --> 00:19:06.820 align:middle line:84% The hard technologies should always 00:19:06.820 --> 00:19:09.580 align:middle line:84% be accompanied by the appropriate soft technologies 00:19:09.580 --> 00:19:12.220 align:middle line:84% like civic structure, motivational techniques, things 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:13.160 align:middle line:90% like that. 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:15.160 align:middle line:84% And there should always be a plan for monitoring 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.510 align:middle line:90% and evaluating that technology. 00:19:19.510 --> 00:19:21.760 align:middle line:84% These organizational guidelines are great. 00:19:21.760 --> 00:19:24.040 align:middle line:84% But I put the most stock in the words 00:19:24.040 --> 00:19:26.050 align:middle line:84% of the individual engineers that are actually 00:19:26.050 --> 00:19:28.750 align:middle line:84% making a living by working in developing communities. 00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:30.720 align:middle line:90% I trust them. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.020 align:middle line:84% Most of these experts insist on the development 00:19:34.020 --> 00:19:35.850 align:middle line:90% of appropriate technologies. 00:19:35.850 --> 00:19:37.740 align:middle line:84% And that actually is a term of art. 00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:41.850 align:middle line:84% Appropriate technology is defined as any object, process, 00:19:41.850 --> 00:19:47.230 align:middle line:84% practice, or idea that satisfies human needs, 00:19:47.230 --> 00:19:49.810 align:middle line:84% is compatible with local, cultural, and economic 00:19:49.810 --> 00:19:54.270 align:middle line:84% conditions, utilizes locally-available materials 00:19:54.270 --> 00:19:57.510 align:middle line:84% and energy resources, and uses tools and processes that 00:19:57.510 --> 00:20:01.670 align:middle line:84% are maintained locally by the people there. 00:20:01.670 --> 00:20:05.840 align:middle line:84% One development engineer, Fritz, gives us five criteria 00:20:05.840 --> 00:20:07.850 align:middle line:84% to test whether or not a technology is 00:20:07.850 --> 00:20:09.590 align:middle line:90% an appropriate technology. 00:20:09.590 --> 00:20:11.660 align:middle line:84% We should ask, are the characteristics 00:20:11.660 --> 00:20:15.250 align:middle line:84% of the technology close to traditional practices? 00:20:15.250 --> 00:20:18.130 align:middle line:84% Does the technology require little cash outlay? 00:20:18.130 --> 00:20:19.960 align:middle line:84% Does it have a low degree of risk? 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:21.760 align:middle line:90% Is it comprehensible to use? 00:20:21.760 --> 00:20:24.970 align:middle line:84% And does it not endanger a subsistence lifestyle? 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:27.130 align:middle line:84% So we have to answer yes to all these questions 00:20:27.130 --> 00:20:28.900 align:middle line:84% to have an appropriate technology. 00:20:28.900 --> 00:20:32.320 align:middle line:84% The picture on this slide is a diagram 00:20:32.320 --> 00:20:34.390 align:middle line:84% of a screenless hammer mill which 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:36.700 align:middle line:84% is an appropriate technology designed by Amy Smith 00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:41.340 align:middle line:84% here at MIT to create flour from grain. 00:20:41.340 --> 00:20:43.470 align:middle line:84% And the fact that it's screenless 00:20:43.470 --> 00:20:45.690 align:middle line:84% means she's taken out the screen, which 00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:47.790 align:middle line:84% is the part that breaks and needs to be replaced 00:20:47.790 --> 00:20:49.920 align:middle line:84% and is not an appropriate technology because it 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:51.585 align:middle line:90% can't be found locally. 00:20:51.585 --> 00:20:56.260 align:middle line:90% 00:20:56.260 --> 00:20:58.750 align:middle line:84% Eric Dudley, another professional development 00:20:58.750 --> 00:21:01.660 align:middle line:84% worker, has written an extremely helpful volume 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:03.610 align:middle line:84% on how to do development engineering 00:21:03.610 --> 00:21:06.400 align:middle line:84% from the point of view of the critical villager, 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:08.920 align:middle line:84% so the critique of the local villager. 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:10.930 align:middle line:84% He tells us that in developing communities, 00:21:10.930 --> 00:21:13.570 align:middle line:84% the reason that technologies often fail 00:21:13.570 --> 00:21:15.730 align:middle line:84% is because even if they seem simple, 00:21:15.730 --> 00:21:19.120 align:middle line:84% they're based on a complex set of interrelated principles 00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:20.410 align:middle line:90% for their use. 00:21:20.410 --> 00:21:23.290 align:middle line:84% And the local people often lack some critical piece 00:21:23.290 --> 00:21:25.930 align:middle line:84% of knowledge that would allow them to grasp 00:21:25.930 --> 00:21:28.450 align:middle line:90% that whole set of principles. 00:21:28.450 --> 00:21:30.550 align:middle line:84% So to avoid this course of events, 00:21:30.550 --> 00:21:33.190 align:middle line:84% the engineer must pass every technology 00:21:33.190 --> 00:21:37.120 align:middle line:84% through the big ideas test, the 3 R test. 00:21:37.120 --> 00:21:40.930 align:middle line:84% Could a critical villager say yes, this is reasonable, yes, 00:21:40.930 --> 00:21:42.700 align:middle line:84% this is a recognizable technology? 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:44.050 align:middle line:90% I know it by name. 00:21:44.050 --> 00:21:45.230 align:middle line:90% I know its limits. 00:21:45.230 --> 00:21:46.960 align:middle line:84% And would the critical villager say, 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:52.820 align:middle line:84% this is a respectable thing for me and my family to us? 00:21:52.820 --> 00:21:56.750 align:middle line:84% After passing the technology through the 3 R big idea test, 00:21:56.750 --> 00:22:00.350 align:middle line:84% then the engineer needs to look at the associated messages that 00:22:00.350 --> 00:22:02.330 align:middle line:84% are essential to the technology's success. 00:22:02.330 --> 00:22:07.000 align:middle line:90% 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:08.770 align:middle line:84% I've just shared a lot of information 00:22:08.770 --> 00:22:11.920 align:middle line:84% with you, a lot of advice from a lot of different sources. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.100 align:middle line:84% First, I went over ideas from philosophers 00:22:15.100 --> 00:22:18.130 align:middle line:84% and from the United Nations about the possibility 00:22:18.130 --> 00:22:20.740 align:middle line:84% that engineers might be morally obligated to provide 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:22.900 align:middle line:84% technical assistance to developing countries 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:24.160 align:middle line:90% if they can. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.520 align:middle line:84% Second, I talked about resources from international law 00:22:27.520 --> 00:22:29.320 align:middle line:84% that might help us set priorities 00:22:29.320 --> 00:22:32.200 align:middle line:84% for which regulation standards and customs to follow. 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:35.290 align:middle line:84% And third, I gave advice from academia, development 00:22:35.290 --> 00:22:38.470 align:middle line:84% organizations, and individual development professionals 00:22:38.470 --> 00:22:41.830 align:middle line:84% about how to design and disseminate 00:22:41.830 --> 00:22:43.930 align:middle line:84% technologies that bring about the most good 00:22:43.930 --> 00:22:46.860 align:middle line:90% and avoid the most harm. 00:22:46.860 --> 00:22:49.160 align:middle line:84% Now from all of these sources, can we 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:51.890 align:middle line:84% synthesize the arguments and exhortations 00:22:51.890 --> 00:22:55.310 align:middle line:84% into one unified systematic method 00:22:55.310 --> 00:22:57.740 align:middle line:84% that humanitarian engineers can actually 00:22:57.740 --> 00:23:00.830 align:middle line:84% use to do ethical moral decision-making in the field? 00:23:00.830 --> 00:23:03.730 align:middle line:90% 00:23:03.730 --> 00:23:06.610 align:middle line:84% To guide this synthesis, I want to go back to the basics, 00:23:06.610 --> 00:23:08.830 align:middle line:84% to the great thinkers, as you were talking about, 00:23:08.830 --> 00:23:13.710 align:middle line:84% Professor Broome, of Kant and Mill. 00:23:13.710 --> 00:23:16.380 align:middle line:90% Let's see if they can help us. 00:23:16.380 --> 00:23:19.680 align:middle line:84% So we remember that Kant's categorical imperative, 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:21.540 align:middle line:84% to act according to a maxim which 00:23:21.540 --> 00:23:25.980 align:middle line:84% can be adopted at the same time as a universal bar. 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:28.680 align:middle line:84% This tells us we have moral duties. 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:31.410 align:middle line:84% Another way to state it is to act 00:23:31.410 --> 00:23:33.400 align:middle line:84% always so that you treat humanity, 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:36.570 align:middle line:84% whether in your person or in that of another, as an end 00:23:36.570 --> 00:23:39.780 align:middle line:90% but never as a means only. 00:23:39.780 --> 00:23:43.500 align:middle line:84% This implies that decisions should 00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:48.330 align:middle line:84% be based on the freedom of every person 00:23:48.330 --> 00:23:50.040 align:middle line:90% to exercise his or her own will. 00:23:50.040 --> 00:23:52.710 align:middle line:90% 00:23:52.710 --> 00:23:54.540 align:middle line:84% I think this implies that engineering 00:23:54.540 --> 00:23:57.180 align:middle line:84% in different countries must involve 00:23:57.180 --> 00:23:59.280 align:middle line:84% listening to the local community in order 00:23:59.280 --> 00:24:02.040 align:middle line:84% to define what that will of the local person is. 00:24:02.040 --> 00:24:03.918 align:middle line:84% How can you respect the freedom of the will 00:24:03.918 --> 00:24:06.210 align:middle line:84% if you don't understand what the will of the person is? 00:24:06.210 --> 00:24:08.790 align:middle line:90% 00:24:08.790 --> 00:24:12.000 align:middle line:84% What about Mill and consequentialist analysis? 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.790 align:middle line:84% Mill's ethics is to act according 00:24:13.790 --> 00:24:15.540 align:middle line:84% to the principle of producing the greatest 00:24:15.540 --> 00:24:18.270 align:middle line:90% utility for all involved. 00:24:18.270 --> 00:24:21.550 align:middle line:84% And utility is defined as the greatest happiness, 00:24:21.550 --> 00:24:26.550 align:middle line:84% which is intended pleasure and absence of pain. 00:24:26.550 --> 00:24:28.530 align:middle line:84% This principle I think again implies 00:24:28.530 --> 00:24:30.720 align:middle line:84% that engineering and developing communities involves 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:32.680 align:middle line:84% listening to the local communities 00:24:32.680 --> 00:24:35.160 align:middle line:84% so that we can learn what constitutes pleasure 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:36.540 align:middle line:90% and pain for the local person. 00:24:36.540 --> 00:24:41.900 align:middle line:90% 00:24:41.900 --> 00:24:44.600 align:middle line:84% So combining these ideas from Kant and Mill 00:24:44.600 --> 00:24:47.120 align:middle line:84% and the other expertise I reviewed today, 00:24:47.120 --> 00:24:49.520 align:middle line:84% I want to propose the following method 00:24:49.520 --> 00:24:54.730 align:middle line:84% for humanitarian engineers to use to do ethics in the field. 00:24:54.730 --> 00:24:57.690 align:middle line:84% So first, we have to start, engineers 00:24:57.690 --> 00:25:00.690 align:middle line:84% who have relative wealth have time to take off 00:25:00.690 --> 00:25:04.890 align:middle line:84% from work and family and the means to travel 00:25:04.890 --> 00:25:08.460 align:middle line:84% should just consider, can their engineering skills 00:25:08.460 --> 00:25:12.140 align:middle line:84% be lent to the human needs in developing communities? 00:25:12.140 --> 00:25:15.290 align:middle line:84% If they consider that and decide yes, 00:25:15.290 --> 00:25:18.710 align:middle line:84% before initiating a project, humanitarian engineers 00:25:18.710 --> 00:25:21.440 align:middle line:84% should consider how their potential project might 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.290 align:middle line:84% infringe upon the rights of the local people 00:25:24.290 --> 00:25:26.310 align:middle line:84% and of others involved in the project. 00:25:26.310 --> 00:25:29.360 align:middle line:84% So that's using Kant's respect for the freedom 00:25:29.360 --> 00:25:32.370 align:middle line:90% of the will of other people. 00:25:32.370 --> 00:25:35.120 align:middle line:84% Then if they decide that it is indeed morally acceptable 00:25:35.120 --> 00:25:40.230 align:middle line:84% to engage in the project, then as the technology is designed 00:25:40.230 --> 00:25:43.180 align:middle line:84% and disseminated, they should constantly 00:25:43.180 --> 00:25:45.820 align:middle line:84% be checking that technology against the criteria 00:25:45.820 --> 00:25:50.310 align:middle line:84% for appropriate technology, the criteria that we went over. 00:25:50.310 --> 00:25:54.120 align:middle line:84% Furthermore, they should periodically pause and reassess 00:25:54.120 --> 00:25:56.560 align:middle line:84% all that they've learned about the local community, 00:25:56.560 --> 00:25:58.780 align:middle line:84% because that's the audience for their actions. 00:25:58.780 --> 00:26:00.300 align:middle line:90% That's the audience. 00:26:00.300 --> 00:26:04.710 align:middle line:84% And they should reapply an act utilitarian approach. 00:26:04.710 --> 00:26:06.030 align:middle line:90% So this is bringing Mill. 00:26:06.030 --> 00:26:08.530 align:middle line:84% What are the consequences of my actions 00:26:08.530 --> 00:26:10.425 align:middle line:84% now that I know more about my audience? 00:26:10.425 --> 00:26:13.290 align:middle line:84% If the consequences change, the outcome 00:26:13.290 --> 00:26:15.240 align:middle line:84% of the act utilitarian analysis change 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:17.715 align:middle line:84% as we learn more, do more listening to the local people. 00:26:17.715 --> 00:26:23.150 align:middle line:90% 00:26:23.150 --> 00:26:33.490 align:middle line:84% So to wrap up, let's test this decision-making approach 00:26:33.490 --> 00:26:37.805 align:middle line:90% on one more case. 00:26:37.805 --> 00:26:41.600 align:middle line:90% 00:26:41.600 --> 00:26:45.440 align:middle line:84% Water chlorination in Honduras-- so here's the problem. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.050 align:middle line:84% Villagers get their drinking water from surface 00:26:48.050 --> 00:26:49.600 align:middle line:90% streams up in the mountains. 00:26:49.600 --> 00:26:54.520 align:middle line:84% They're gravity fed down to community storage tanks. 00:26:54.520 --> 00:26:56.600 align:middle line:84% And the surface streams are becoming 00:26:56.600 --> 00:26:59.870 align:middle line:84% increasingly contaminated by waste up in the mountains. 00:26:59.870 --> 00:27:00.980 align:middle line:90% Humans live there now. 00:27:00.980 --> 00:27:02.640 align:middle line:90% There's lots of cattle there. 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:06.090 align:middle line:84% So these surface students are susceptible to pathogens. 00:27:06.090 --> 00:27:10.710 align:middle line:84% There are hypochlorinators on top of the water storage tanks. 00:27:10.710 --> 00:27:12.510 align:middle line:84% So this is supposed to be a tank to hold 00:27:12.510 --> 00:27:15.570 align:middle line:84% super concentrated chlorine solution to disinfect 00:27:15.570 --> 00:27:16.450 align:middle line:90% the water. 00:27:16.450 --> 00:27:20.430 align:middle line:84% However, these tanks do not allow for reliable flow 00:27:20.430 --> 00:27:22.383 align:middle line:90% of chlorine into the tanks. 00:27:22.383 --> 00:27:24.300 align:middle line:84% The community has decided that they don't work 00:27:24.300 --> 00:27:26.680 align:middle line:90% and they're not using them. 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:30.510 align:middle line:84% And so the people are drinking contaminated water. 00:27:30.510 --> 00:27:33.600 align:middle line:84% And children are getting sick, especially 00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:37.470 align:middle line:84% children from birth to age five, with water-borne diseases, 00:27:37.470 --> 00:27:39.840 align:middle line:90% diarrhea. 00:27:39.840 --> 00:27:43.890 align:middle line:84% So potential solution that US engineers could help with 00:27:43.890 --> 00:27:46.710 align:middle line:84% is to first analyze exactly what the contamination 00:27:46.710 --> 00:27:50.340 align:middle line:84% level of the water is so that the villagers know 00:27:50.340 --> 00:27:52.680 align:middle line:84% how much chlorine they need exactly, 00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:56.040 align:middle line:84% and then to install an adjustment 00:27:56.040 --> 00:27:58.650 align:middle line:84% to the hypochlorinator, a flow regulator made out 00:27:58.650 --> 00:28:03.220 align:middle line:84% of simple materials, and then to teach the local plumbers better 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:05.780 align:middle line:90% chlorination practices. 00:28:05.780 --> 00:28:07.910 align:middle line:90% That's a potential solution. 00:28:07.910 --> 00:28:11.090 align:middle line:84% Let's use this systematic method for doing ethics 00:28:11.090 --> 00:28:12.450 align:middle line:90% in this situation. 00:28:12.450 --> 00:28:14.010 align:middle line:90% First, should I go? 00:28:14.010 --> 00:28:15.260 align:middle line:90% Let's assume I'm the engineer. 00:28:15.260 --> 00:28:16.790 align:middle line:90% He's deciding about this. 00:28:16.790 --> 00:28:20.330 align:middle line:84% Can my engineering skills help in this developing country? 00:28:20.330 --> 00:28:23.900 align:middle line:84% Well, I think that with my knowledge of water treatment 00:28:23.900 --> 00:28:25.790 align:middle line:84% engineering, I might be able to prevent 00:28:25.790 --> 00:28:27.270 align:middle line:90% some water-borne disease. 00:28:27.270 --> 00:28:28.280 align:middle line:90% So I think I'll go. 00:28:28.280 --> 00:28:29.490 align:middle line:90% 00:28:29.490 --> 00:28:32.340 align:middle line:84% Well, then the next thing, before initiating the project, 00:28:32.340 --> 00:28:35.100 align:middle line:84% I need to consider what rights might 00:28:35.100 --> 00:28:38.520 align:middle line:84% be infringed upon by this project, what local rights. 00:28:38.520 --> 00:28:43.810 align:middle line:84% So by going and working on water chlorination in this community, 00:28:43.810 --> 00:28:46.740 align:middle line:84% I might infringe upon the plumbers' rights 00:28:46.740 --> 00:28:48.270 align:middle line:90% not to be defamed. 00:28:48.270 --> 00:28:52.988 align:middle line:84% So by going and saying this is a problem, it's not working, 00:28:52.988 --> 00:28:55.530 align:middle line:84% I'm telling the community that the plumber is doing something 00:28:55.530 --> 00:28:58.650 align:middle line:84% wrong without the plumber having a say in whether or not 00:28:58.650 --> 00:29:01.020 align:middle line:90% I say that to the community. 00:29:01.020 --> 00:29:03.930 align:middle line:84% I think I could also infringe upon the villagers' rights 00:29:03.930 --> 00:29:05.250 align:middle line:90% not to be deceived. 00:29:05.250 --> 00:29:08.910 align:middle line:84% What if we do this bacterial analysis of the water? 00:29:08.910 --> 00:29:11.500 align:middle line:84% But we don't have great sanitary conditions. 00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:15.090 align:middle line:84% It's hard to keep things really clean in this environment. 00:29:15.090 --> 00:29:18.450 align:middle line:84% What if I misdiagnosed the contamination 00:29:18.450 --> 00:29:20.700 align:middle line:84% level of the water and then I tell the villagers 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:22.680 align:middle line:90% a wrong contamination level? 00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:25.440 align:middle line:84% So they're being deceived about how safe or unsafe 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.900 align:middle line:90% their water is. 00:29:27.900 --> 00:29:33.960 align:middle line:84% I think I might also infringe upon the villagers' rights not 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:35.920 align:middle line:90% to suffer from broken promises. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:38.910 align:middle line:84% So we might come in and help them 00:29:38.910 --> 00:29:40.920 align:middle line:84% learn about this technology and install it. 00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:43.740 align:middle line:84% But what if it stops working because of lack of maintenance 00:29:43.740 --> 00:29:45.105 align:middle line:90% after we leave? 00:29:45.105 --> 00:29:46.980 align:middle line:84% The villagers have been promised clean water. 00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:48.610 align:middle line:84% They're now drinking their water. 00:29:48.610 --> 00:29:51.810 align:middle line:84% What if it becomes not clean, not safe anymore? 00:29:51.810 --> 00:29:53.027 align:middle line:90% Promises have been broken. 00:29:53.027 --> 00:29:55.110 align:middle line:84% So those are some of the rights this project might 00:29:55.110 --> 00:29:56.635 align:middle line:90% infringe upon. 00:29:56.635 --> 00:29:58.260 align:middle line:84% But I also have to consider what rights 00:29:58.260 --> 00:30:01.750 align:middle line:84% are being infringed upon now without any intervention. 00:30:01.750 --> 00:30:03.450 align:middle line:84% So I would say that the villagers' 00:30:03.450 --> 00:30:06.010 align:middle line:84% right to bodily integrity, to health, 00:30:06.010 --> 00:30:07.470 align:middle line:90% is being infringed upon. 00:30:07.470 --> 00:30:09.870 align:middle line:84% Because they're told their drinking water is OK, 00:30:09.870 --> 00:30:13.610 align:middle line:84% but it's really severely contaminated. 00:30:13.610 --> 00:30:15.620 align:middle line:84% The villagers' right to informed consent 00:30:15.620 --> 00:30:16.620 align:middle line:90% is being infringed upon. 00:30:16.620 --> 00:30:17.840 align:middle line:90% They don't know. 00:30:17.840 --> 00:30:20.990 align:middle line:84% They're not informed of the health risks of drinking water. 00:30:20.990 --> 00:30:25.525 align:middle line:84% And the villagers' right not to be deceived or cheated, 00:30:25.525 --> 00:30:26.900 align:middle line:84% I think, is being infringed upon. 00:30:26.900 --> 00:30:28.850 align:middle line:84% Because they're paying for chlorine. 00:30:28.850 --> 00:30:30.410 align:middle line:90% They're paying a water tax. 00:30:30.410 --> 00:30:34.070 align:middle line:84% And they're receiving water that is making their children sick. 00:30:34.070 --> 00:30:37.040 align:middle line:84% So I decide that the rights infringed upon 00:30:37.040 --> 00:30:39.160 align:middle line:84% by not intervening are more severe, 00:30:39.160 --> 00:30:42.650 align:middle line:84% more severe rights infringements than the rights infringements 00:30:42.650 --> 00:30:44.300 align:middle line:90% that would occur by intervening. 00:30:44.300 --> 00:30:48.370 align:middle line:84% So I decided to go, to go do this water chlorination work. 00:30:48.370 --> 00:30:50.230 align:middle line:84% And my engineering plan, let's say, 00:30:50.230 --> 00:30:55.240 align:middle line:84% is to do bacterial analysis and to add this flow regulator 00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:57.820 align:middle line:84% to help the local plumbers learn how to build these, 00:30:57.820 --> 00:31:02.900 align:middle line:84% learn how the technology works, and install it in their tanks. 00:31:02.900 --> 00:31:04.340 align:middle line:90% Now I need to constantly check. 00:31:04.340 --> 00:31:06.230 align:middle line:90% Is this technology appropriate? 00:31:06.230 --> 00:31:09.620 align:middle line:90% So let me describe this for you. 00:31:09.620 --> 00:31:11.720 align:middle line:84% So the problem is this is just a big storage 00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:13.520 align:middle line:84% tank with a hole at the bottom that's 00:31:13.520 --> 00:31:15.920 align:middle line:84% supposed to allow chlorine to flow into the water tank. 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.320 align:middle line:84% Well, the flow rate out of the hole 00:31:18.320 --> 00:31:21.980 align:middle line:84% decreases as the amount of solution in the tank decreases. 00:31:21.980 --> 00:31:24.390 align:middle line:84% As the pressure had dropped, the flow rate drops. 00:31:24.390 --> 00:31:26.980 align:middle line:84% So we don't have a constant flow of chlorine. 00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:33.100 align:middle line:84% This is just a plastic tank, an upside-down gasoline tank, 00:31:33.100 --> 00:31:36.200 align:middle line:84% with a toilet valve coming from the big tank. 00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:40.000 align:middle line:84% So chlorine flows into this tank through a toilet valve. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:47.130 align:middle line:84% The bulb, the floater bulb on the toilet valve, 00:31:47.130 --> 00:31:51.150 align:middle line:84% when that floater bulb changes level, more chlorine solution 00:31:51.150 --> 00:31:53.470 align:middle line:84% is added to the small holding tank. 00:31:53.470 --> 00:31:57.330 align:middle line:84% So this allows a regular flow of chlorine into the water. 00:31:57.330 --> 00:31:59.460 align:middle line:84% So that's what we would call the technology. 00:31:59.460 --> 00:32:00.510 align:middle line:90% Is it appropriate? 00:32:00.510 --> 00:32:03.720 align:middle line:84% Well, let's apply those five criteria. 00:32:03.720 --> 00:32:07.910 align:middle line:84% So are its characteristics close to traditional practices? 00:32:07.910 --> 00:32:11.510 align:middle line:84% Well, if you consider the traditional practice 00:32:11.510 --> 00:32:14.120 align:middle line:84% of adding chlorine solution to the big tank, 00:32:14.120 --> 00:32:16.820 align:middle line:84% then all we're doing is adding another step in the middle. 00:32:16.820 --> 00:32:18.680 align:middle line:90% So you could say it's close. 00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:22.950 align:middle line:84% On the other hand, this is a totally new step. 00:32:22.950 --> 00:32:26.610 align:middle line:84% Maybe it's not so close to traditional practices. 00:32:26.610 --> 00:32:28.740 align:middle line:84% Does it require little cash outlay? 00:32:28.740 --> 00:32:29.280 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:32:29.280 --> 00:32:30.630 align:middle line:90% The answer to that is yes. 00:32:30.630 --> 00:32:33.240 align:middle line:84% All these materials together cost only $10. 00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:34.770 align:middle line:90% And you just need them once. 00:32:34.770 --> 00:32:37.950 align:middle line:90% They're already buying chlorine. 00:32:37.950 --> 00:32:40.860 align:middle line:84% Does it have a low degree of risk? 00:32:40.860 --> 00:32:47.030 align:middle line:84% Well, we're not introducing any new risk into the water system. 00:32:47.030 --> 00:32:49.180 align:middle line:90% Is it comprehensible to use? 00:32:49.180 --> 00:32:51.080 align:middle line:84% Well, I think that depends on the training 00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:53.340 align:middle line:84% that we give to the plumbers and the local people. 00:32:53.340 --> 00:32:56.130 align:middle line:84% So that's a question we need to keep coming back to. 00:32:56.130 --> 00:32:59.790 align:middle line:84% Does it not endanger a subsistence way of life? 00:32:59.790 --> 00:33:01.396 align:middle line:90% I don't think so. 00:33:01.396 --> 00:33:04.250 align:middle line:84% It's not really associated with that. 00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:06.850 align:middle line:84% So those are the criteria for appropriate technologies. 00:33:06.850 --> 00:33:09.820 align:middle line:84% And then as we learn about the community work there with them, 00:33:09.820 --> 00:33:11.440 align:middle line:84% we need to pause every once in a while 00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:14.300 align:middle line:84% and consider the consequences of this engineering action, 00:33:14.300 --> 00:33:16.960 align:middle line:84% so do an act utilitarian analysis. 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:21.040 align:middle line:84% One example is that we might learn that the plumbers, when 00:33:21.040 --> 00:33:23.740 align:middle line:84% they clean out the storage tank with chlorine, 00:33:23.740 --> 00:33:26.380 align:middle line:84% are not wearing protective gloves or masks. 00:33:26.380 --> 00:33:28.810 align:middle line:84% So we learn that they're in this tank. 00:33:28.810 --> 00:33:31.240 align:middle line:84% And they're not protecting themselves 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:34.180 align:middle line:84% from this super concentrated chlorine plume that's 00:33:34.180 --> 00:33:35.840 align:middle line:90% around them that's corrosive. 00:33:35.840 --> 00:33:38.020 align:middle line:84% So that might tell us that our decision 00:33:38.020 --> 00:33:41.620 align:middle line:84% not to do training sessions on the maintenance and cleaning 00:33:41.620 --> 00:33:43.540 align:middle line:84% for this chlorine solution but just 00:33:43.540 --> 00:33:46.015 align:middle line:84% to focus on this system, that might tell us 00:33:46.015 --> 00:33:48.160 align:middle line:90% that that decision is unethical. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:51.550 align:middle line:84% Because we're telling the plumbers to use chlorine but 00:33:51.550 --> 00:33:54.170 align:middle line:84% we're not passing along the messages 00:33:54.170 --> 00:33:57.340 align:middle line:90% of safe use of that chlorine. 00:33:57.340 --> 00:33:59.140 align:middle line:84% So that's just a sampling of how I 00:33:59.140 --> 00:34:03.490 align:middle line:84% might use the possibly systematic method of doing 00:34:03.490 --> 00:34:07.060 align:middle line:84% ethics in the humanitarian engineering environment. 00:34:07.060 --> 00:34:11.949 align:middle line:84% There's certainly more work to do to perfect this method. 00:34:11.949 --> 00:34:14.590 align:middle line:84% First, I would suggest that we survey 00:34:14.590 --> 00:34:17.739 align:middle line:84% all the humanitarian engineering organizations in the US, 00:34:17.739 --> 00:34:20.989 align:middle line:84% those like Engineers Without Borders, et cetera, 00:34:20.989 --> 00:34:25.360 align:middle line:84% and collect what their ethical guidelines and considerations 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:30.370 align:middle line:84% are, so understand what people are assuming is the standard 00:34:30.370 --> 00:34:33.429 align:middle line:84% and find out if people have the tools that they need. 00:34:33.429 --> 00:34:34.500 align:middle line:90% 00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:37.000 align:middle line:84% Then I suggest we collect more case studies 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:41.190 align:middle line:84% of humanitarian engineering projects that have caused harm 00:34:41.190 --> 00:34:45.150 align:middle line:84% and then apply my suggested systematic method 00:34:45.150 --> 00:34:47.280 align:middle line:84% for doing ethics to those case studies 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:53.190 align:middle line:84% and see whether or not applying that ethical tool 00:34:53.190 --> 00:34:58.370 align:middle line:84% would have prevented the harm that these projects have done. 00:34:58.370 --> 00:35:02.415 align:middle line:84% And if we find that this ethical tool, decision-making tool, 00:35:02.415 --> 00:35:03.790 align:middle line:84% wouldn't have prevented the harm, 00:35:03.790 --> 00:35:06.670 align:middle line:84% wouldn't have pointed out the harmful consequences, 00:35:06.670 --> 00:35:10.180 align:middle line:84% then improve upon this method, add new techniques 00:35:10.180 --> 00:35:11.800 align:middle line:90% for doing moral decision-making. 00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:16.800 align:middle line:90% 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:19.370 align:middle line:84% So to conclude, let me just summarize 00:35:19.370 --> 00:35:21.320 align:middle line:90% what I've talked about today. 00:35:21.320 --> 00:35:24.650 align:middle line:84% I explained why the ethics of engineering 00:35:24.650 --> 00:35:27.110 align:middle line:84% for international development is an increasingly important 00:35:27.110 --> 00:35:30.380 align:middle line:84% issue, that engineers are getting more and more involved 00:35:30.380 --> 00:35:31.790 align:middle line:90% in this. 00:35:31.790 --> 00:35:34.850 align:middle line:84% The international community has said it's important 00:35:34.850 --> 00:35:38.450 align:middle line:84% but we're not providing training. 00:35:38.450 --> 00:35:42.830 align:middle line:84% Then I presented three cases where ethical dimensions had 00:35:42.830 --> 00:35:46.060 align:middle line:90% been neglected by engineers. 00:35:46.060 --> 00:35:48.490 align:middle line:84% Based on these cases and the literature, 00:35:48.490 --> 00:35:51.550 align:middle line:84% I identified three main categories of ethical questions 00:35:51.550 --> 00:35:54.520 align:middle line:84% that face engineers who go into developing communities 00:35:54.520 --> 00:35:56.080 align:middle line:90% to try to help. 00:35:56.080 --> 00:35:58.420 align:middle line:84% Then I reviewed potential answers to these questions 00:35:58.420 --> 00:36:03.800 align:middle line:84% from philosophers, development organizations, and individuals. 00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:07.760 align:middle line:84% And then I combined these ideas with the ideas of Kant and Mill 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:11.690 align:middle line:84% to propose a systematic moral decision-making tool 00:36:11.690 --> 00:36:14.300 align:middle line:84% for real engineers, college students, professors, 00:36:14.300 --> 00:36:17.210 align:middle line:84% professionals on vacation time, to use in the field. 00:36:17.210 --> 00:36:19.820 align:middle line:90% 00:36:19.820 --> 00:36:22.790 align:middle line:90% And that is the end. 00:36:22.790 --> 00:36:25.240 align:middle line:90% Yep. 00:36:25.240 --> 00:36:27.223 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:36:27.223 --> 00:36:29.528 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: [INAUDIBLE] 00:36:29.528 --> 00:36:30.763 align:middle line:90% 00:36:30.763 --> 00:36:32.930 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Oh, yeah, of course, if we have time, 00:36:32.930 --> 00:36:33.830 align:middle line:90% I'd love to. 00:36:33.830 --> 00:36:42.710 align:middle line:84% In your slides, there's my references and then 00:36:42.710 --> 00:36:44.930 align:middle line:84% the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 00:36:44.930 --> 00:36:46.190 align:middle line:90% which I talked about. 00:36:46.190 --> 00:36:48.210 align:middle line:84% I wanted you just to have that in case there 00:36:48.210 --> 00:36:49.460 align:middle line:90% were any questions about that. 00:36:49.460 --> 00:36:55.921 align:middle line:90% 00:36:55.921 --> 00:36:57.412 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Can you-- 00:36:57.412 --> 00:36:58.420 align:middle line:90% on your first sheet-- 00:36:58.420 --> 00:36:59.253 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:36:59.253 --> 00:37:01.630 align:middle line:90% 00:37:01.630 --> 00:37:04.740 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Also known as, a.k.a. 00:37:04.740 --> 00:37:07.120 align:middle line:84% At this Colorado School of Mines, 00:37:07.120 --> 00:37:09.550 align:middle line:84% there's this course called humanitarian engineering. 00:37:09.550 --> 00:37:10.425 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:37:10.425 --> 00:37:12.220 align:middle line:84% It's a minor, so it's several courses. 00:37:12.220 --> 00:37:14.230 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Several courses? 00:37:14.230 --> 00:37:18.140 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah, they started it. 00:37:18.140 --> 00:37:20.560 align:middle line:90% There's actually an ASEE paper. 00:37:20.560 --> 00:37:23.170 align:middle line:84% There's a couple of papers on their efforts 00:37:23.170 --> 00:37:25.450 align:middle line:84% to start this minor in humanitarian engineering. 00:37:25.450 --> 00:37:27.890 align:middle line:84% I think it's about three years old. 00:37:27.890 --> 00:37:32.350 align:middle line:84% So it's courses, the technical, how 00:37:32.350 --> 00:37:34.450 align:middle line:84% to design appropriate technology. 00:37:34.450 --> 00:37:36.790 align:middle line:84% And there's the cultural dimensions. 00:37:36.790 --> 00:37:42.250 align:middle line:84% What is the history and politics of Honduras, for example? 00:37:42.250 --> 00:37:46.540 align:middle line:84% They can choose from a variety of more politics and geography 00:37:46.540 --> 00:37:48.750 align:middle line:90% and history classes. 00:37:48.750 --> 00:37:52.316 align:middle line:84% So it's a combination of the technical and the humanity. 00:37:52.316 --> 00:37:56.750 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Does the name Carl Mitcham mean anything to you? 00:37:56.750 --> 00:37:59.250 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: I haven't heard that name or seen it on the-- 00:37:59.250 --> 00:38:00.210 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: He's at Colorado School of Mines. 00:38:00.210 --> 00:38:00.960 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:05.450 align:middle line:90% 00:38:05.450 --> 00:38:06.770 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: He might be the-- 00:38:06.770 --> 00:38:11.050 align:middle line:90% 00:38:11.050 --> 00:38:14.740 align:middle line:84% well, I think that he is the preeminent scholar 00:38:14.740 --> 00:38:20.994 align:middle line:84% in the United States on the philosophy of technology. 00:38:20.994 --> 00:38:22.750 align:middle line:90% He's an ethicist. 00:38:22.750 --> 00:38:24.743 align:middle line:84% But he does philosophy of technology. 00:38:24.743 --> 00:38:25.910 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK, I didn't. 00:38:25.910 --> 00:38:26.950 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: He's teaching philosophy. 00:38:26.950 --> 00:38:28.783 align:middle line:84% But he mainly does philosophy of technology. 00:38:28.783 --> 00:38:29.575 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Huh. 00:38:29.575 --> 00:38:30.100 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:38:30.100 --> 00:38:31.767 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: And I'm wondering if here's 00:38:31.767 --> 00:38:32.892 align:middle line:90% anything to do with that. 00:38:32.892 --> 00:38:34.600 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: I'll have to look that up. 00:38:34.600 --> 00:38:38.830 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Actually, I'll be phoning him next week. 00:38:38.830 --> 00:38:42.870 align:middle line:84% If you're around MIT in September, he'll be up here. 00:38:42.870 --> 00:38:44.070 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Oh, great. 00:38:44.070 --> 00:38:45.810 align:middle line:90% I'll be in Boston still. 00:38:45.810 --> 00:38:46.810 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: [INAUDIBLE] 00:38:46.810 --> 00:38:47.560 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:38:47.560 --> 00:38:52.140 align:middle line:90% 00:38:52.140 --> 00:38:58.590 align:middle line:84% Yeah, in the NSPE, their newsletter, 00:38:58.590 --> 00:39:02.090 align:middle line:84% they're September 2005 newsletter, 00:39:02.090 --> 00:39:04.700 align:middle line:84% there's an article about the program at Colorado School 00:39:04.700 --> 00:39:05.990 align:middle line:90% of Mines actually. 00:39:05.990 --> 00:39:10.030 align:middle line:84% So I meant to put that reference somewhere. 00:39:10.030 --> 00:39:12.660 align:middle line:90% 00:39:12.660 --> 00:39:14.280 align:middle line:90% Again, it'll be in my paper. 00:39:14.280 --> 00:39:21.560 align:middle line:90% 00:39:21.560 --> 00:39:24.620 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: On the slide, motivation for the project-- 00:39:24.620 --> 00:39:25.730 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:39:25.730 --> 00:39:27.470 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: --ethics is defined by EWB. 00:39:27.470 --> 00:39:30.830 align:middle line:90% 00:39:30.830 --> 00:39:36.130 align:middle line:84% Now I don't know what to offer here except an observation. 00:39:36.130 --> 00:39:37.770 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yes. 00:39:37.770 --> 00:39:40.800 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: And that is that you might have noticed 00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:44.040 align:middle line:84% in many of the engineering codes of ethics, 00:39:44.040 --> 00:39:46.290 align:middle line:84% there's such a thing called super principle. 00:39:46.290 --> 00:39:49.043 align:middle line:84% They will say which of these principles 00:39:49.043 --> 00:39:50.460 align:middle line:84% was more important than the other. 00:39:50.460 --> 00:39:51.650 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:39:51.650 --> 00:39:53.400 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: And that principle is usually 00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:57.195 align:middle line:84% the health and welfare of the public is paramount. 00:39:57.195 --> 00:39:57.587 align:middle line:90% 00:39:57.587 --> 00:39:59.170 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: The paramountcy clause. 00:39:59.170 --> 00:40:06.400 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: So I don't know what to do with those bullets 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:06.900 align:middle line:90% there. 00:40:06.900 --> 00:40:12.420 align:middle line:84% But it would be nice to know if any one of them's 00:40:12.420 --> 00:40:15.660 align:middle line:84% is considered by the EWB as more important than the others. 00:40:15.660 --> 00:40:17.782 align:middle line:84% That gives you a fallback position in case 00:40:17.782 --> 00:40:18.615 align:middle line:90% you've got conflict. 00:40:18.615 --> 00:40:19.095 align:middle line:90% 00:40:19.095 --> 00:40:19.970 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:40:19.970 --> 00:40:22.230 align:middle line:84% That's what I think they need, that's 00:40:22.230 --> 00:40:24.930 align:middle line:84% why I put this in the motivation. 00:40:24.930 --> 00:40:26.610 align:middle line:90% They have this list. 00:40:26.610 --> 00:40:30.060 align:middle line:90% But how are they following it? 00:40:30.060 --> 00:40:31.920 align:middle line:90% What takes priority? 00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:36.850 align:middle line:84% So they don't have a paramountcy clause listed in their code. 00:40:36.850 --> 00:40:38.580 align:middle line:90% They just list these things. 00:40:38.580 --> 00:40:40.330 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Would you be inclined to make 00:40:40.330 --> 00:40:42.720 align:middle line:84% that recommendation in your paper? 00:40:42.720 --> 00:40:44.220 align:middle line:90% 00:40:44.220 --> 00:40:46.920 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Yes, that's a good idea. 00:40:46.920 --> 00:40:52.360 align:middle line:84% For organizations that are doing humanitarian engineering, 00:40:52.360 --> 00:40:55.900 align:middle line:84% they need to consider what values 00:40:55.900 --> 00:40:57.730 align:middle line:84% and ethical principles they want to follow. 00:40:57.730 --> 00:41:01.780 align:middle line:84% And they also need to provide a paramountcy clause. 00:41:01.780 --> 00:41:03.340 align:middle line:90% Yeah, that's a good idea. 00:41:03.340 --> 00:41:05.632 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Unless they've done it like a philosopher. 00:41:05.632 --> 00:41:10.600 align:middle line:84% They deduce principles, to deduce concepts 00:41:10.600 --> 00:41:13.005 align:middle line:90% from a single principle. 00:41:13.005 --> 00:41:14.380 align:middle line:84% Unless they're going to do that-- 00:41:14.380 --> 00:41:15.220 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: I mean-- 00:41:15.220 --> 00:41:17.178 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: --which is not what they did here. 00:41:17.178 --> 00:41:17.365 align:middle line:90% 00:41:17.365 --> 00:41:18.198 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:41:18.198 --> 00:41:19.900 align:middle line:90% They state their vision. 00:41:19.900 --> 00:41:28.750 align:middle line:84% But I don't know that you can deduce moral decision-making 00:41:28.750 --> 00:41:32.152 align:middle line:84% from the vision that the world should be-- 00:41:32.152 --> 00:41:34.360 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Frankly, I don't think that organization 00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:37.360 align:middle line:90% is capable of that. 00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:43.030 align:middle line:84% Because people came together with slightly different 00:41:43.030 --> 00:41:45.910 align:middle line:90% motivations and mission. 00:41:45.910 --> 00:41:48.593 align:middle line:84% And to hold everybody together, you pretty much say, 00:41:48.593 --> 00:41:50.260 align:middle line:84% well, let's list down the things that we 00:41:50.260 --> 00:41:51.760 align:middle line:90% can agree on as a group. 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:52.635 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:41:52.635 --> 00:41:54.177 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: And those things are not 00:41:54.177 --> 00:41:58.442 align:middle line:84% necessarily divisible from a second principle. 00:41:58.442 --> 00:42:00.150 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: They don't work like that. 00:42:00.150 --> 00:42:01.050 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: They need a startup principle. 00:42:01.050 --> 00:42:01.883 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:42:01.883 --> 00:42:02.640 align:middle line:90% Right. 00:42:02.640 --> 00:42:05.130 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: OK, so that's fine. 00:42:05.130 --> 00:42:09.560 align:middle line:84% But you as an analyst might be able to offer something 00:42:09.560 --> 00:42:10.130 align:middle line:90% to them. 00:42:10.130 --> 00:42:13.040 align:middle line:84% Because even in the case of engineering codes, which 00:42:13.040 --> 00:42:17.930 align:middle line:84% are collectively decided upon, they 00:42:17.930 --> 00:42:24.290 align:middle line:84% are able to reach out one of them if they can say, 00:42:24.290 --> 00:42:28.112 align:middle line:84% go to this one in case there's a conflict [INAUDIBLE] be others. 00:42:28.112 --> 00:42:31.030 align:middle line:90% That's kind of helpful. 00:42:31.030 --> 00:42:32.800 align:middle line:90% So that would be a good-- 00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:34.550 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: It's like a recommendation. 00:42:34.550 --> 00:42:37.970 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Recommendation for you. 00:42:37.970 --> 00:42:38.690 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:42:38.690 --> 00:42:39.087 align:middle line:90% 00:42:39.087 --> 00:42:41.420 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I'm looking at [INAUDIBLE] trying to see which 00:42:41.420 --> 00:42:41.920 align:middle line:90% one the-- 00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:44.173 align:middle line:90% 00:42:44.173 --> 00:42:45.090 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: I know. 00:42:45.090 --> 00:42:45.590 align:middle line:90% I mean-- 00:42:45.590 --> 00:42:46.882 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: You cut across me. 00:42:46.882 --> 00:42:47.382 align:middle line:90% 00:42:47.382 --> 00:42:48.574 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: I'm sorry. 00:42:48.574 --> 00:42:50.270 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: I'm getting off here. 00:42:50.270 --> 00:42:52.020 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Did you hear what she said? 00:42:52.020 --> 00:42:52.740 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: No. 00:42:52.740 --> 00:42:57.210 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: She said, which one would you pick of these-- 00:42:57.210 --> 00:42:59.760 align:middle line:84% if these were the ones they're stuck with 00:42:59.760 --> 00:43:01.118 align:middle line:90% and they need to prioritize. 00:43:01.118 --> 00:43:02.910 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Well, I'll tell you which one. 00:43:02.910 --> 00:43:04.870 align:middle line:90% I have no doubt about that-- 00:43:04.870 --> 00:43:05.797 align:middle line:90% the second one. 00:43:05.797 --> 00:43:06.630 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:43:06.630 --> 00:43:07.130 align:middle line:90% 00:43:07.130 --> 00:43:08.700 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah 00:43:08.700 --> 00:43:11.430 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: But what if there's 00:43:11.430 --> 00:43:22.202 align:middle line:84% one human who insists that adding, doing anything to water 00:43:22.202 --> 00:43:23.910 align:middle line:84% besides just scooping it up from a stream 00:43:23.910 --> 00:43:26.880 align:middle line:84% and drinking it, that doing anything else to it is harm, 00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:30.250 align:middle line:90% is which doctoring, whatever? 00:43:30.250 --> 00:43:32.250 align:middle line:84% If there's one human that believes that and then 00:43:32.250 --> 00:43:34.590 align:middle line:84% there's a child who's drinking this water 00:43:34.590 --> 00:43:39.260 align:middle line:84% and getting sick, which of those two human, 00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:42.033 align:middle line:90% respecting human dignity? 00:43:42.033 --> 00:43:43.200 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: The notion of-- 00:43:43.200 --> 00:43:45.158 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: But that involves life, I guess. 00:43:45.158 --> 00:43:45.867 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Yes. 00:43:45.867 --> 00:43:47.490 align:middle line:84% Notice that when I said human dignity, 00:43:47.490 --> 00:43:49.320 align:middle line:90% I'm leaving out the other parts. 00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:51.540 align:middle line:84% I'm just talking about human dignity. 00:43:51.540 --> 00:43:53.550 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Dignity, which implies, yeah. 00:43:53.550 --> 00:43:55.050 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: The concept is that you 00:43:55.050 --> 00:43:57.060 align:middle line:84% should be able to treat everybody 00:43:57.060 --> 00:44:01.140 align:middle line:84% with high degrees of human dignity under all situations. 00:44:01.140 --> 00:44:03.900 align:middle line:84% There should be no conflict in the ability 00:44:03.900 --> 00:44:05.520 align:middle line:90% to treat everybody as a person. 00:44:05.520 --> 00:44:12.117 align:middle line:90% 00:44:12.117 --> 00:44:14.200 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: What do we do with criminal people? 00:44:14.200 --> 00:44:15.742 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: You should respect them. 00:44:15.742 --> 00:44:17.050 align:middle line:90% You respect them as persons. 00:44:17.050 --> 00:44:18.320 align:middle line:90% You put them in jail. 00:44:18.320 --> 00:44:20.360 align:middle line:84% But then you give them clean facilities. 00:44:20.360 --> 00:44:21.390 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:44:21.390 --> 00:44:25.660 align:middle line:84% So respect their most basic needs. 00:44:25.660 --> 00:44:27.410 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Well, I want to [INAUDIBLE].. 00:44:27.410 --> 00:44:32.840 align:middle line:84% What is it that causes a person to be a person? 00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:35.768 align:middle line:90% That's a rhetorical question. 00:44:35.768 --> 00:44:38.060 align:middle line:84% There's some things that cause a person to be a person. 00:44:38.060 --> 00:44:42.530 align:middle line:84% And some of those things rise above what you would say 00:44:42.530 --> 00:44:45.330 align:middle line:90% causes an animal to be a mammal. 00:44:45.330 --> 00:44:49.410 align:middle line:84% So there's something about being a human being. 00:44:49.410 --> 00:44:50.790 align:middle line:90% Now we can go to philosophers. 00:44:50.790 --> 00:44:52.650 align:middle line:90% We can go to biologists. 00:44:52.650 --> 00:44:54.122 align:middle line:90% We can go to theologians. 00:44:54.122 --> 00:44:55.330 align:middle line:90% We can go all over the place. 00:44:55.330 --> 00:44:57.600 align:middle line:84% The point is you should be able to come up 00:44:57.600 --> 00:45:01.450 align:middle line:84% with a few things that says what a person is, 00:45:01.450 --> 00:45:03.242 align:middle line:90% something you can defend. 00:45:03.242 --> 00:45:04.450 align:middle line:90% I'm not saying for the paper. 00:45:04.450 --> 00:45:07.330 align:middle line:90% 00:45:07.330 --> 00:45:12.140 align:middle line:84% I've actually responded [INAUDIBLE] first, not yours. 00:45:12.140 --> 00:45:17.140 align:middle line:84% So you should be able to say and then give everybody 00:45:17.140 --> 00:45:19.750 align:middle line:84% equal deference when it comes to those two things, 00:45:19.750 --> 00:45:22.430 align:middle line:84% no matter what the circumstances are. 00:45:22.430 --> 00:45:26.865 align:middle line:84% And don't rob them of their humanity. 00:45:26.865 --> 00:45:29.210 align:middle line:90% OK? 00:45:29.210 --> 00:45:39.890 align:middle line:84% And one way to do that is with Immanuel Kant's notion of 00:45:39.890 --> 00:45:42.140 align:middle line:84% do not use a person as a means to an end. 00:45:42.140 --> 00:45:44.090 align:middle line:90% I can do that with anybody. 00:45:44.090 --> 00:45:46.926 align:middle line:90% I don't care who the person is. 00:45:46.926 --> 00:45:49.250 align:middle line:90% You can bring in Idi Amin. 00:45:49.250 --> 00:45:53.000 align:middle line:90% You can bring in Adolf Hitler. 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:55.602 align:middle line:90% I can still treat them-- 00:45:55.602 --> 00:45:56.810 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: As an end in-- 00:45:56.810 --> 00:45:58.310 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: --as ends in themselves 00:45:58.310 --> 00:46:01.433 align:middle line:90% and not means to my ends. 00:46:01.433 --> 00:46:02.350 align:middle line:90% I'll put them in jail. 00:46:02.350 --> 00:46:03.550 align:middle line:84% I'll do a whole lot of things with them 00:46:03.550 --> 00:46:04.780 align:middle line:90% if I have the power to do so. 00:46:04.780 --> 00:46:07.720 align:middle line:84% But I can still say that I am not using 00:46:07.720 --> 00:46:09.240 align:middle line:90% you to advance my own self. 00:46:09.240 --> 00:46:11.075 align:middle line:90% 00:46:11.075 --> 00:46:12.950 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Do you think that there could maybe 00:46:12.950 --> 00:46:16.160 align:middle line:84% be a fine line between robbing someone of their humanity 00:46:16.160 --> 00:46:21.020 align:middle line:84% like we discussed and infringing on someone's cultural beliefs? 00:46:21.020 --> 00:46:21.770 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Yeah. 00:46:21.770 --> 00:46:21.785 align:middle line:90% 00:46:21.785 --> 00:46:22.930 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I think there's a fine line. 00:46:22.930 --> 00:46:25.405 align:middle line:84% Yeah, because I think you did a great job addressing 00:46:25.405 --> 00:46:26.530 align:middle line:90% that and dealing with that. 00:46:26.530 --> 00:46:30.650 align:middle line:90% So I think there is a fine line. 00:46:30.650 --> 00:46:32.960 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: There's nothing magic, I think, 00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:37.325 align:middle line:84% or morally compelling about culture. 00:46:37.325 --> 00:46:40.490 align:middle line:84% I mean, culture is just things that you do and value 00:46:40.490 --> 00:46:45.740 align:middle line:90% and have done as a people. 00:46:45.740 --> 00:46:48.535 align:middle line:84% And we can think of some cultures that need to change. 00:46:48.535 --> 00:46:49.410 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:46:49.410 --> 00:46:49.910 align:middle line:90% Right. 00:46:49.910 --> 00:46:51.590 align:middle line:84% Now, that's [INAUDIBLE] argument. 00:46:51.590 --> 00:46:52.880 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Yes. 00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:58.125 align:middle line:84% So I think that culture is probably 00:46:58.125 --> 00:47:00.000 align:middle line:84% one of the most important terms we could ever 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.280 align:middle line:84% use we're talking about collectivities of people, 00:47:04.280 --> 00:47:07.700 align:middle line:84% particularly when we're talking about clashes of cultures. 00:47:07.700 --> 00:47:14.465 align:middle line:84% But there's nothing sacrosanct in culture in and of itself. 00:47:14.465 --> 00:47:17.930 align:middle line:90% 00:47:17.930 --> 00:47:21.245 align:middle line:84% But human dignity, I think, is something that can be observed. 00:47:21.245 --> 00:47:21.870 align:middle line:90% It's like Kant. 00:47:21.870 --> 00:47:23.410 align:middle line:90% I mean, this is a logical thing. 00:47:23.410 --> 00:47:26.269 align:middle line:84% You can observe it all the time with everybody. 00:47:26.269 --> 00:47:30.960 align:middle line:90% 00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:32.710 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I just had a couple of comments, 00:47:32.710 --> 00:47:33.570 align:middle line:90% things that [INAUDIBLE]. 00:47:33.570 --> 00:47:34.635 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: You didn't get to see all the pictures. 00:47:34.635 --> 00:47:34.777 align:middle line:90% 00:47:34.777 --> 00:47:35.310 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: I'm so sorry. 00:47:35.310 --> 00:47:36.960 align:middle line:84% I was stuck behind a disabled train. 00:47:36.960 --> 00:47:38.850 align:middle line:84% And the whole time I'm like, oh, no. 00:47:38.850 --> 00:47:41.392 align:middle line:84% I'm going to miss [INAUDIBLE] presentation on the green line. 00:47:41.392 --> 00:47:43.017 align:middle line:84% You know the green line is slow anyway. 00:47:43.017 --> 00:47:43.950 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Oh, no. 00:47:43.950 --> 00:47:45.730 align:middle line:84% Oh, that must have been so frustrating. 00:47:45.730 --> 00:47:45.795 align:middle line:90% 00:47:45.795 --> 00:47:47.128 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: It was so frustrating. 00:47:47.128 --> 00:47:48.212 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Well, here. 00:47:48.212 --> 00:47:49.470 align:middle line:90% So these are the pictures. 00:47:49.470 --> 00:47:51.330 align:middle line:84% You can didn't the latrines, did you? 00:47:51.330 --> 00:47:56.910 align:middle line:84% So I was talking about here's more examples of cases that 00:47:56.910 --> 00:48:00.720 align:middle line:84% are supposed to be humanitarian engineering interventions 00:48:00.720 --> 00:48:02.700 align:middle line:84% but where some ethical dimensions were missed. 00:48:02.700 --> 00:48:06.220 align:middle line:84% And there's either potential for harm or harm itself. 00:48:06.220 --> 00:48:08.340 align:middle line:84% So this idea of composting latrines 00:48:08.340 --> 00:48:13.280 align:middle line:84% that is a famous, a favorite appropriate technology. 00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:14.990 align:middle line:84% US engineers discover that people 00:48:14.990 --> 00:48:17.682 align:middle line:84% are having to go out into the fields at night to defecate. 00:48:17.682 --> 00:48:18.890 align:middle line:90% They say, you need a latrine. 00:48:18.890 --> 00:48:20.757 align:middle line:84% You need to have a safe place to do this. 00:48:20.757 --> 00:48:22.340 align:middle line:84% And let's make it a composting latrine 00:48:22.340 --> 00:48:25.260 align:middle line:84% so we can use your waste to help your fields as well. 00:48:25.260 --> 00:48:28.130 align:middle line:84% But if they don't convey all the messages 00:48:28.130 --> 00:48:31.190 align:middle line:84% about ventilation and sealing of the latrines, 00:48:31.190 --> 00:48:32.660 align:middle line:84% then it becomes a disease factory 00:48:32.660 --> 00:48:34.260 align:middle line:90% right next to the house. 00:48:34.260 --> 00:48:36.820 align:middle line:90% So this was one example. 00:48:36.820 --> 00:48:41.070 align:middle line:84% Another one is these ring beams, which are just 00:48:41.070 --> 00:48:44.340 align:middle line:84% a continuous beam all the way around a house, all 00:48:44.340 --> 00:48:45.960 align:middle line:84% the way around the external walls, 00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:47.950 align:middle line:84% to help support it during an earthquake. 00:48:47.950 --> 00:48:50.430 align:middle line:84% So it makes all the walls work together. 00:48:50.430 --> 00:48:54.390 align:middle line:84% But in Yemen in one community, the local people 00:48:54.390 --> 00:48:57.600 align:middle line:84% missed the message that the most important part 00:48:57.600 --> 00:49:00.060 align:middle line:84% of the technology is that it's a continuous beam. 00:49:00.060 --> 00:49:02.760 align:middle line:84% And so they just built all these houses with beams 00:49:02.760 --> 00:49:04.470 align:middle line:90% on just three walls. 00:49:04.470 --> 00:49:06.922 align:middle line:84% And so then no extra strength is added. 00:49:06.922 --> 00:49:08.880 align:middle line:84% You're just giving them false sense of security 00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:10.463 align:middle line:84% that their family is going to be safe. 00:49:10.463 --> 00:49:11.910 align:middle line:90% So that was another one. 00:49:11.910 --> 00:49:15.570 align:middle line:84% And then these are from the Honduras project. 00:49:15.570 --> 00:49:20.450 align:middle line:84% And this slide is really about the ethics of engineering 00:49:20.450 --> 00:49:22.220 align:middle line:90% practices like construction. 00:49:22.220 --> 00:49:25.182 align:middle line:84% And so we're installing sensors and radio towers. 00:49:25.182 --> 00:49:26.390 align:middle line:90% And in the left, it's blurry. 00:49:26.390 --> 00:49:29.990 align:middle line:84% But there's a Honduran metal worker on a ladder. 00:49:29.990 --> 00:49:31.465 align:middle line:90% He's drilling into concrete. 00:49:31.465 --> 00:49:32.840 align:middle line:84% The ladder is supported by people 00:49:32.840 --> 00:49:35.750 align:middle line:84% that are on a boat, which is floating on 20 feet of water 00:49:35.750 --> 00:49:37.550 align:middle line:90% in a rushing river. 00:49:37.550 --> 00:49:40.070 align:middle line:84% And then in that one, he's rappelling off a bridge. 00:49:40.070 --> 00:49:43.550 align:middle line:84% And in this one, they're like using rock-climbing harnesses 00:49:43.550 --> 00:49:45.110 align:middle line:90% to construct a radio tower. 00:49:45.110 --> 00:49:48.300 align:middle line:84% So nothing bad happened, but what if something had? 00:49:48.300 --> 00:49:50.932 align:middle line:90% He would have been responsible. 00:49:50.932 --> 00:49:52.640 align:middle line:84% So those were the pictures you don't see. 00:49:52.640 --> 00:49:56.074 align:middle line:90% 00:49:56.074 --> 00:49:57.032 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Let's see. 00:49:57.032 --> 00:49:58.560 align:middle line:90% 00:49:58.560 --> 00:50:02.630 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I like where you presented 00:50:02.630 --> 00:50:05.320 align:middle line:84% your analysis of the dynamic process 00:50:05.320 --> 00:50:08.780 align:middle line:84% so that you just don't put a technology out there, saying, 00:50:08.780 --> 00:50:10.280 align:middle line:90% this is good [INAUDIBLE]. 00:50:10.280 --> 00:50:13.174 align:middle line:90% Because things are changing. 00:50:13.174 --> 00:50:15.609 align:middle line:84% [INAUDIBLE] developing countries. 00:50:15.609 --> 00:50:17.577 align:middle line:90% And so I think that [INAUDIBLE]. 00:50:17.577 --> 00:50:18.410 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:50:18.410 --> 00:50:19.370 align:middle line:90% I'm glad you pointed it out. 00:50:19.370 --> 00:50:21.328 align:middle line:84% Because that was something I hadn't articulated 00:50:21.328 --> 00:50:25.130 align:middle line:84% before I did this project, like the continual checking instead 00:50:25.130 --> 00:50:26.975 align:middle line:84% of just a needs assessment up front. 00:50:26.975 --> 00:50:28.500 align:middle line:90% 00:50:28.500 --> 00:50:30.950 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:50:30.950 --> 00:50:41.240 align:middle line:90% 00:50:41.240 --> 00:50:44.357 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: I have see some minor stylistic things-- 00:50:44.357 --> 00:50:45.190 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Sure. 00:50:45.190 --> 00:50:47.340 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: --also. 00:50:47.340 --> 00:50:54.630 align:middle line:84% The case for the chlorination, the slide actually, 00:50:54.630 --> 00:50:55.980 align:middle line:90% the one that shows the tank. 00:50:55.980 --> 00:50:56.813 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:50:56.813 --> 00:51:01.853 align:middle line:90% 00:51:01.853 --> 00:51:02.520 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: No. 00:51:02.520 --> 00:51:12.050 align:middle line:84% It says-- yeah, that one, the community water storage tank. 00:51:12.050 --> 00:51:15.640 align:middle line:90% 00:51:15.640 --> 00:51:18.640 align:middle line:90% This is stylistic. 00:51:18.640 --> 00:51:21.530 align:middle line:84% It would be good to have some sense of the dimensions. 00:51:21.530 --> 00:51:22.430 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:51:22.430 --> 00:51:24.888 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: You know, it was like if a person was standing 00:51:24.888 --> 00:51:26.540 align:middle line:90% there, you could tell-- 00:51:26.540 --> 00:51:28.400 align:middle line:84% how high is that tank, by the way, anyway? 00:51:28.400 --> 00:51:30.920 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: So it is-- 00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:31.920 align:middle line:90% I can see a person here. 00:51:31.920 --> 00:51:33.462 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Is there a person there? 00:51:33.462 --> 00:51:36.140 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: If I stand next to it, I come up to like-- 00:51:36.140 --> 00:51:37.640 align:middle line:90% this is how tall I would be. 00:51:37.640 --> 00:51:38.307 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: OK. 00:51:38.307 --> 00:51:40.607 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: So it's [INAUDIBLE].. 00:51:40.607 --> 00:51:41.690 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: An easy way-- 00:51:41.690 --> 00:51:45.650 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: It's like 20 feet tall, 10 meters? 00:51:45.650 --> 00:51:47.593 align:middle line:90% This is 1 meter. 00:51:47.593 --> 00:51:48.260 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: OK. 00:51:48.260 --> 00:51:48.417 align:middle line:90% 00:51:48.417 --> 00:51:49.902 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: That's 1 meter. 00:51:49.902 --> 00:51:51.810 align:middle line:90% So that tells you. 00:51:51.810 --> 00:51:52.910 align:middle line:90% So it's not 10 meters. 00:51:52.910 --> 00:51:54.790 align:middle line:90% It's like 5 meters tall. 00:51:54.790 --> 00:51:57.530 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: OK. 00:51:57.530 --> 00:52:00.200 align:middle line:84% Whatever you decide to do with this after you've heard 00:52:00.200 --> 00:52:02.237 align:middle line:84% this comment may be the right thing. 00:52:02.237 --> 00:52:04.070 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: That's a good comment though. 00:52:04.070 --> 00:52:06.435 align:middle line:90% 00:52:06.435 --> 00:52:07.810 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Yeah, sometimes when 00:52:07.810 --> 00:52:11.650 align:middle line:84% I'm watching these documentaries on television 00:52:11.650 --> 00:52:14.330 align:middle line:84% and they have a bone on the ground, 00:52:14.330 --> 00:52:16.918 align:middle line:84% they don't have a pencil sitting beside the bone. 00:52:16.918 --> 00:52:18.460 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Is it a dinosaur bone? 00:52:18.460 --> 00:52:19.268 align:middle line:90% Is it-- 00:52:19.268 --> 00:52:19.768 align:middle line:90% 00:52:19.768 --> 00:52:19.964 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Chicken bone? 00:52:19.964 --> 00:52:20.356 align:middle line:90% What is it? 00:52:20.356 --> 00:52:20.750 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Chicken bone. 00:52:20.750 --> 00:52:22.042 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah, you don't know. 00:52:22.042 --> 00:52:22.740 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:52:22.740 --> 00:52:25.060 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah, I didn't put captions 00:52:25.060 --> 00:52:26.830 align:middle line:90% on any of these pictures. 00:52:26.830 --> 00:52:29.140 align:middle line:84% So this is from my trips to Honduras. 00:52:29.140 --> 00:52:33.150 align:middle line:84% And if I had more time, I would have 00:52:33.150 --> 00:52:35.110 align:middle line:90% talked about this practice. 00:52:35.110 --> 00:52:38.250 align:middle line:84% So we're doing a bacterial analysis of water 00:52:38.250 --> 00:52:40.930 align:middle line:90% here with a really cool-- 00:52:40.930 --> 00:52:43.260 align:middle line:84% another appropriate technology [INAUDIBLE] 00:52:43.260 --> 00:52:46.020 align:middle line:90% MIT, a cheap way to test water. 00:52:46.020 --> 00:52:48.720 align:middle line:84% And it turned out great for us when we did blanks. 00:52:48.720 --> 00:52:51.820 align:middle line:84% So when we put distilled water through the process, 00:52:51.820 --> 00:52:57.530 align:middle line:84% we never found bacteria, which is a check on our procedure. 00:52:57.530 --> 00:53:00.020 align:middle line:90% But there's still the potential. 00:53:00.020 --> 00:53:01.610 align:middle line:84% I mean, it's not a lab environment. 00:53:01.610 --> 00:53:04.700 align:middle line:84% We're just in a meeting room, you can see. 00:53:04.700 --> 00:53:08.160 align:middle line:84% It's not the cleanest place to be doing water analysis. 00:53:08.160 --> 00:53:13.364 align:middle line:90% But there's lots of issues. 00:53:13.364 --> 00:53:15.100 align:middle line:84% Are there stylistic things, Professor? 00:53:15.100 --> 00:53:19.390 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Well, some more stylistic observations. 00:53:19.390 --> 00:53:21.370 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yes. 00:53:21.370 --> 00:53:27.930 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: One is that philosophers 00:53:27.930 --> 00:53:32.100 align:middle line:84% are hesitant to say, we'll solve the problem. 00:53:32.100 --> 00:53:34.426 align:middle line:84% We engineers always say we solve the problem. 00:53:34.426 --> 00:53:37.150 align:middle line:90% 00:53:37.150 --> 00:53:40.180 align:middle line:84% So it's not a question of being apologetic. 00:53:40.180 --> 00:53:43.470 align:middle line:84% It's a question of knowing that whatever response you have 00:53:43.470 --> 00:53:45.610 align:middle line:90% to a problem is justifiable. 00:53:45.610 --> 00:53:46.822 align:middle line:90% You can justify it. 00:53:46.822 --> 00:53:48.780 align:middle line:84% But somebody else may have a different response 00:53:48.780 --> 00:53:50.430 align:middle line:90% that's equally justified. 00:53:50.430 --> 00:53:54.060 align:middle line:84% Because in philosophy, there's no hierarchy 00:53:54.060 --> 00:53:56.440 align:middle line:90% of decision making. 00:53:56.440 --> 00:54:02.470 align:middle line:84% And an engineer, you cannot build a bridge 10 different 00:54:02.470 --> 00:54:04.840 align:middle line:90% correct ways. 00:54:04.840 --> 00:54:06.730 align:middle line:84% Doesn't matter if your way is correct or not. 00:54:06.730 --> 00:54:10.070 align:middle line:84% We have to decide on one way to do it. 00:54:10.070 --> 00:54:13.570 align:middle line:84% In philosophy, there's no bridge. 00:54:13.570 --> 00:54:14.980 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Right. 00:54:14.980 --> 00:54:17.740 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: So whatever you decide to do with that word, 00:54:17.740 --> 00:54:19.660 align:middle line:84% even if you decide to leave it in-- 00:54:19.660 --> 00:54:21.070 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Just the word of solve or solution? 00:54:21.070 --> 00:54:22.520 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Solve or solution. 00:54:22.520 --> 00:54:23.350 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:54:23.350 --> 00:54:26.470 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Just be aware that there's 00:54:26.470 --> 00:54:29.020 align:middle line:84% this academic cultural difference. 00:54:29.020 --> 00:54:29.727 align:middle line:90% 00:54:29.727 --> 00:54:31.810 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Is there a term of art that's used? 00:54:31.810 --> 00:54:34.240 align:middle line:90% Or is there [INAUDIBLE]? 00:54:34.240 --> 00:54:37.643 align:middle line:90% I mean, what would you say I-- 00:54:37.643 --> 00:54:38.810 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: You say, well-- 00:54:38.810 --> 00:54:40.900 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: A suggestion or proposal or something? 00:54:40.900 --> 00:54:42.525 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: I've analyzed the problem. 00:54:42.525 --> 00:54:49.168 align:middle line:84% And here's my recommendation, is-- 00:54:49.168 --> 00:54:52.170 align:middle line:90% 00:54:52.170 --> 00:55:06.730 align:middle line:84% they'll say, here is my conclusion 00:55:06.730 --> 00:55:09.100 align:middle line:84% and my justifications for that conclusion. 00:55:09.100 --> 00:55:14.400 align:middle line:90% 00:55:14.400 --> 00:55:16.400 align:middle line:84% But I'm not suggesting you change your language. 00:55:16.400 --> 00:55:20.270 align:middle line:84% You just have to be aware that when you deal with-- 00:55:20.270 --> 00:55:23.350 align:middle line:84% well, in a sense, we're talking about cross academic cultures. 00:55:23.350 --> 00:55:25.280 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah. 00:55:25.280 --> 00:55:26.908 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: All right, and depending 00:55:26.908 --> 00:55:27.950 align:middle line:90% on who your audience is-- 00:55:27.950 --> 00:55:30.408 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: You think about how they perceive the words. 00:55:30.408 --> 00:55:32.900 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Yeah, these words, I 00:55:32.900 --> 00:55:36.960 align:middle line:84% used to get in a lot of trouble with that all the time. 00:55:36.960 --> 00:55:42.550 align:middle line:84% As a matter of fact, I had a paper rejected once. 00:55:42.550 --> 00:55:44.815 align:middle line:84% Oh, I get a lot of papers rejected. 00:55:44.815 --> 00:55:45.940 align:middle line:90% But I had a paper rejected. 00:55:45.940 --> 00:55:48.460 align:middle line:90% 00:55:48.460 --> 00:55:54.160 align:middle line:84% And the reason was that I reference one of my own papers. 00:55:54.160 --> 00:55:59.120 align:middle line:84% And I referenced it by using my last name, Broome said. 00:55:59.120 --> 00:56:03.940 align:middle line:90% And they said, Kant said. 00:56:03.940 --> 00:56:06.730 align:middle line:90% And they said that Newton said. 00:56:06.730 --> 00:56:12.190 align:middle line:84% But Broome doesn't say, like who are you to be saying? 00:56:12.190 --> 00:56:15.752 align:middle line:84% You know, what you do is don't reference your own name. 00:56:15.752 --> 00:56:17.710 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: You have to reference the paper. 00:56:17.710 --> 00:56:18.850 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: You could reference the paper. 00:56:18.850 --> 00:56:20.200 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: But do you use the first person then? 00:56:20.200 --> 00:56:21.520 align:middle line:90% Do you say, I said? 00:56:21.520 --> 00:56:22.870 align:middle line:90% Or you just-- 00:56:22.870 --> 00:56:25.150 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: If you have to say I said, you do. 00:56:25.150 --> 00:56:27.910 align:middle line:84% But you try to say, in this paper. 00:56:27.910 --> 00:56:29.530 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: And just say-- 00:56:29.530 --> 00:56:30.628 align:middle line:90% they rejected it totally? 00:56:30.628 --> 00:56:31.920 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: Well, I turned it. 00:56:31.920 --> 00:56:33.743 align:middle line:84% I erased it and sent it right back. 00:56:33.743 --> 00:56:34.660 align:middle line:90% And they published it. 00:56:34.660 --> 00:56:36.070 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Oh, OK. 00:56:36.070 --> 00:56:37.403 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: They rejected that. 00:56:37.403 --> 00:56:39.370 align:middle line:84% I mean, you can't be going around using 00:56:39.370 --> 00:56:42.100 align:middle line:90% your name like Aristotle. 00:56:42.100 --> 00:56:43.270 align:middle line:90% Who do you think you are? 00:56:43.270 --> 00:56:49.648 align:middle line:84% Well, in engineering, that's what we all do all at the time. 00:56:49.648 --> 00:56:51.190 align:middle line:84% I mean, you're writing a paper that's 00:56:51.190 --> 00:56:52.520 align:middle line:90% built up from another paper. 00:56:52.520 --> 00:56:54.187 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Well, you cite your own paper. 00:56:54.187 --> 00:56:54.874 align:middle line:90% No problem. 00:56:54.874 --> 00:56:58.780 align:middle line:90% 00:56:58.780 --> 00:57:01.590 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: And there was another one. 00:57:01.590 --> 00:57:08.810 align:middle line:84% Oh, another one-- you used a term of art correctly, 00:57:08.810 --> 00:57:10.650 align:middle line:90% but it is problematic. 00:57:10.650 --> 00:57:12.080 align:middle line:90% And that's paternalism. 00:57:12.080 --> 00:57:13.820 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:57:13.820 --> 00:57:16.776 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Now, I'll tell you what's problematic about it. 00:57:16.776 --> 00:57:21.560 align:middle line:90% 00:57:21.560 --> 00:57:25.850 align:middle line:84% You'll never hurt anybody's feelings 00:57:25.850 --> 00:57:29.360 align:middle line:90% if you use the word paternalism. 00:57:29.360 --> 00:57:31.790 align:middle line:84% You use the word maternalism, and you've got a problem. 00:57:31.790 --> 00:57:36.330 align:middle line:90% 00:57:36.330 --> 00:57:39.010 align:middle line:84% A lot of people don't like that like that term. 00:57:39.010 --> 00:57:41.560 align:middle line:90% 00:57:41.560 --> 00:57:43.630 align:middle line:90% Because it's negative. 00:57:43.630 --> 00:57:47.584 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Paternalism isn't always negative? 00:57:47.584 --> 00:57:48.326 align:middle line:90% TAFT BROOME: No. 00:57:48.326 --> 00:57:48.826 align:middle line:90% No. 00:57:48.826 --> 00:57:51.680 align:middle line:84% It's not taken that way as negative. 00:57:51.680 --> 00:57:52.380 align:middle line:90% Maternalism is. 00:57:52.380 --> 00:57:55.107 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: I've never heard anyone use maternalism. 00:57:55.107 --> 00:57:55.607 align:middle line:90% 00:57:55.607 --> 00:57:58.320 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Neither have I, I have to say. 00:57:58.320 --> 00:58:00.480 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Well, that's because over the years, 00:58:00.480 --> 00:58:02.820 align:middle line:90% we've ironed that out. 00:58:02.820 --> 00:58:06.150 align:middle line:84% But that was a long time, about 20 years, 00:58:06.150 --> 00:58:09.510 align:middle line:84% when that was a term that could cause some problems. 00:58:09.510 --> 00:58:14.030 align:middle line:90% 00:58:14.030 --> 00:58:17.630 align:middle line:84% It makes it sound like maternal is bad. 00:58:17.630 --> 00:58:20.450 align:middle line:84% Paternal makes it sound like it's bad. 00:58:20.450 --> 00:58:22.490 align:middle line:90% But nobody's offended by it. 00:58:22.490 --> 00:58:23.480 align:middle line:90% No men are offended. 00:58:23.480 --> 00:58:27.350 align:middle line:84% GUEST SPEAKER: Right, but using maternal in a negative light 00:58:27.350 --> 00:58:33.960 align:middle line:84% is like putting down someone's mother or something like that. 00:58:33.960 --> 00:58:36.197 align:middle line:84% So do you suggest I make any changes? 00:58:36.197 --> 00:58:37.655 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: No, I wouldn't suggest 00:58:37.655 --> 00:58:38.390 align:middle line:90% you make any changes at all. 00:58:38.390 --> 00:58:38.930 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:58:38.930 --> 00:58:40.972 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: But you definitely have to be aware. 00:58:40.972 --> 00:58:42.440 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:58:42.440 --> 00:58:44.480 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Because that's a term of art. 00:58:44.480 --> 00:58:47.570 align:middle line:84% But you just have to be aware that if you're 00:58:47.570 --> 00:58:51.530 align:middle line:84% going to use paternalism, don't go around later 00:58:51.530 --> 00:58:55.270 align:middle line:84% in the same paper and use maternalism negatively. 00:58:55.270 --> 00:58:56.494 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:58:56.494 --> 00:58:59.446 align:middle line:84% TAFT BROOME: Because you're going to run into some issues. 00:58:59.446 --> 00:59:01.710 align:middle line:84% And I think you are on solid ground. 00:59:01.710 --> 00:59:02.255 align:middle line:90% 00:59:02.255 --> 00:59:03.630 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I like how you broke it 00:59:03.630 --> 00:59:06.137 align:middle line:84% up into what the philosophers say and the organization. 00:59:06.137 --> 00:59:07.220 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Oh, really? 00:59:07.220 --> 00:59:07.260 align:middle line:90% 00:59:07.260 --> 00:59:09.260 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: And then the individuals in the field. 00:59:09.260 --> 00:59:10.010 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: OK. 00:59:10.010 --> 00:59:10.240 align:middle line:90% 00:59:10.240 --> 00:59:11.198 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: I think that. 00:59:11.198 --> 00:59:14.006 align:middle line:90% 00:59:14.006 --> 00:59:14.910 align:middle line:90% GUEST SPEAKER: Good. 00:59:14.910 --> 00:59:15.410 align:middle line:90% I'm glad. 00:59:15.410 --> 00:59:18.200 align:middle line:84% That was the hardest part of this 00:59:18.200 --> 00:59:22.970 align:middle line:84% because there isn't one body of knowledge on engineering 00:59:22.970 --> 00:59:24.210 align:middle line:90% and developing communities. 00:59:24.210 --> 00:59:27.620 align:middle line:84% So I pulled from a lot of different kinds of sources. 00:59:27.620 --> 00:59:29.360 align:middle line:84% And at first, I was just arranging it 00:59:29.360 --> 00:59:32.810 align:middle line:84% all just by philosophy, organizations, 00:59:32.810 --> 00:59:34.030 align:middle line:90% like individuals. 00:59:34.030 --> 00:59:36.528 align:middle line:84% And I didn't have those three categories of questions. 00:59:36.528 --> 00:59:37.820 align:middle line:90% And it was just kind of a mess. 00:59:37.820 --> 00:59:39.410 align:middle line:84% It was like I was just telling you 00:59:39.410 --> 00:59:43.030 align:middle line:84% what I read without organizing it at all. 00:59:43.030 --> 00:59:45.230 align:middle line:84% So then I did, OK, well, let's have categories 00:59:45.230 --> 00:59:49.730 align:middle line:84% of questions and categories of potential conclusion, 00:59:49.730 --> 00:59:52.480 align:middle line:90% potential solutions.