WebRuss

This is an exerpt from my master thesis on the Ethical and Moral Impact of Technology

According to Greek legend, Prometheus stole fire from the chariot of the Sun and he carried it back to Earth. Fire, perhaps the first gift of technology, is a gift of both wonder and terror. At the core of the internal combustion engine, which powers nearly all of our vehicles, is fire. Our homes are heated by oil that is burned to heat water that is then pumped into radiators. On September 11th 2001 terrorists used airplanes filled with fuel as giant flying bombs to destroy the World Trade Center. Fire is an amazing and powerful tool that can be used to build or destroy.


This amazing gift of technology comes with an equally important share of responsibility when deciding to employ this power. Information Technology is altering the basic building blocks of democratic societies. Political questions that were once primarily discussed only in the House and Senate are now open to public discussion in all kinds of mass media. News and facts are being replaced by social commentary and political pundits. The change here is access to technology. As a society, our culture's identity is being changed by technology.

Technology is morally neutral. It is how society decides to use technology that defines the ethical and moral impact upon themselves. Technology should be used to create consent and not dissent (Habermas 1988). Information Technology should create a more transparent and therefore rational society. However, some disagree and think that technology is creating a more chaotic society where unity of thought is  being traded for radical individualism (Vattimo 1989).

This rapid and pervasive change in our society requires at least a two-level analysis of the ethical role of Information Technology in modern societies. Foucault (1984) made a distinction between two types of morality. He mentions a "code-oriented" and a "self-oriented" morality. Simply put a "code-oriented" morality is external and applied by society upon the individual. Whereas a "self-oriented" morality focuses on the individuals own sense of right and wrong. This distinction between a societal and and personal morality is a key point in ethical thinking as it applies to Information Technology.

When the "self-oriented" morality becomes a dominant factor in the logic of an individual and the "code-oriented" morality is ignored, then we enter a space where desires of the self overtake the society norms for proper behavior. The liberty of self governance comes with a responsibility to the larger society and must be embraced as a whole and not overtaken by the "self-oriented" or the "code-oriented" morality.

Works Cited

Foucault, Michel. (1984). L'usage des plaisirs (The use of delights ). Vol. 2. Paris: Gallimard.

Habermas, Jürgen. (1988). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns. (Theory of communicative action) Frankfurt. a.M. Suhrkamp, 2 vol.

Vattimo, Gianni. (1989). La società trasparente (The Transparent Society) . Milano:
Garzanti.