DUE: Saturday, Oct. 20, 2013
This week we will spend some time talking about ethics on a global scale. The question we will ask is, "Is there an ethical code or ethical 'rules' we can apply to every person in every situation and location?" Part of the idea of global ethics is how we create and how we communicate in our world--and this has been altered significantly and quickly over the last 20 years. Our world is small and getting smaller--In 1985, to talk to someone in China, I could either write a letter and mail it, or I could make a rather expensive long distance call. This morning, I read my best friend's daughter a bedtime story as she drifted off to sleep in a suburb of Hong Kong, using an iPad and FaceTime, I got to see her smile as the hungry caterpillar ate his way through all those strawberries. Imagine what will come of our lifetimes!
We are entering an era in which young people on the cusp of college and career need to think quickly, with their heads and their hearts, and one in which global ethics may rise to an importance that we have yet to experience. Unfortunately, we are also submerged in an era where money and power are often the two primary driving forces behind change, progress (if we can call it that), and divisiveness.
A Ring of Gyges would be quite nice, I think! (And you all thought that JRR Tolkien came up with that concept!) And in many ways, technology does allow us to be invisible; during last year's "Hellgate Confessions" Facebook rampage, many people found freedom in the supposed anonymity of their posts--we saw both positive and negative sides of that. As you watch this TedTalk and ponder the questions below, really consider how ethics and the changing world need to interact in order to turn our world into one you want to be part of.
--As we discussed with Natural Sciences and Human Sciences, create a list of Ethical Rules that should apply to the use of technology. If it helps, you can narrow your list down to something like "media" or "social media" or "software creation", etc. Also, explain why these rules are important and what impact they would have on our world.
--Often, people fear that the influx of technology in our world will have two very negative affects:
(1) People will spend less time with one another; we will become/are becoming isolationists and antisocial. (Read Ray Bradbury's very short story "The Pedestrian" by clicking here--Bradbury could see the future!) and
(2) The demographic chasm between those who can afford the technology and those who can't will widen greatly creating an entirely new "Third World". This will leave those with money driving change and those without dragging behind.
To what extent to you agree or disagree with these claims? What do you suggest as possible counterclaims or solutions to these two concerns?
*In both of these cases, try to link your answers to real life situations.
Also, Hailey suggested this youtube video as a connection to ethics and money--possibly appropriate to draw on for some ideas!
http://youtu.be/3MxRIn-C4zU
No comments:
Post a Comment