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Comment by sidcool | Hacker News Reader

I struggle to realize why we expect Software engineers to be bellwethers of morality and ethics. They are flesh and blood, and like any other profession, if there's money in something, there will be someone to do it

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We expect all engineers to care and most people, who call themselves engineers take a course of ethics as part of their certification.

It’s an ongoing source of debate and confusion as to what Software ‘Engineer’ means.

Engineers do (like civil, mechanical, electrical) but most software engineers come from a CS background, where there isn’t as much focus on professional ethics.

For one, as professionals and engineers, SEs should absolutely be attuned to and deeply reflective of ethics. That said, we can and should expect everyone to consider ethics in their daily lives and work.

Someone likely will do nearly every unethical thing, but that doesn't mean it is right for anyone to do it.

Correct. There is nothing intrinsically noble about technologists. No Hippocratic oath, no unifying moral code. They’re susceptible to the same pitfalls of professional disregard as anyone. Understanding that will help you temper any unearned trust in software and technology companies.

We should expect everybody to care about the morality and ethics of their actions. That's a pretty low fucking bar IMO. In software, this is one way that manifests.

Other professions are self regulating, if you do unethical things your peers (the AMA or legal boards) will strip you of your license to practice and then you can’t find a job.

It would be too much to expect engineers to somehow be angels without the threat of punishment when even doctors need these systems.

But on the other hand, imagine if you heard about this agile thing but you can’t legally apply it because waterfall is mandated and if you apply agile you might be stripped of your license to practice software engineering.

I am not condoning the unethical practices, but every profession has people who are below the bar you talk about. The reasons why they do it are as varied as the peoples of the world.

>We should expect everybody to care about the morality and ethics of their actions.

This isn't a very meaningful statement as people widely disagree about what the ethical action is.

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