Ethical Dilemma- Chapter 9

A couple years ago Patricia returned to the UK to take up an academic position at a British University. She had been out in UK for over 20 years working for universities at number of countries, and had a good professional employment record. She decided to open a bank account with one of the large banks that had branch on the campus.

She met the bank manager, was given the necessary forms, duly completed them. A few days later she returned to the bank to open her account. Much to her surprise, she was told that she could only have cash account, i.e., she not be given any bank cards, cheque book, or the like, nor could she have any overdraft facility.

Patricia again met with the bank manager as she naturally felt there must have been some misunderstanding. Key points here are that she already had a bank account in the UK since her student days (although this had been largely unused during her years away), she owed no money on credit cards or the like, was UK citizen, and had a good track record with bank overseas. In addition, her salary from the university was to be paid into her account each month.

Despite her explaining these points, the bank manager was adamant that she could only have cash accounts. When asked to explain this decision, the bank manager indicated that it was not in fact her decision, but a decision made by an expert system. The bank always used this computer technology when making decisions about opening accounts for new clients, and in fact the bank manager could not overrule the restrictions that the expert systems imposed. In short, the expert system was empowered in the decision-making process to such an extent that it actually replaced the human decision-making process. The bank manager went on to explain that the problem was that the expert system had not previously encountered a person with Patricia’s particular background. And the key point to the computer was the extensive years of residency outside the UK.

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To   what extent do you think it is appropriate to replace the human decision-making process wit hthe computer technologies such as expert systems?

If the company is too large and an employees or the staff's can't handle troubles that is almost the same decision-making at one time everyday, the company must replace the human-decision making process with the computer technologies such as expert system.

During the conversation Patricia asked the bank manager whether she felt that it was appropriate for the expert system to be empowered in this way. The response she obtained was that it was a great idea because computers do not make mistakes. What do you think about this comment? Do computers make mistakes? Is any computerised system free from mistakes? Should we be educating people to believe that computers are infallible are computers infallible? What do you think are the ramifications of believing in infallible computerised systems?

Yes, it is true that computer doesn't make any mistake but they only have limited and exact data given to them. In short if the input is wrong, the output is wrong and when the input is right the out output is right. In my opinion, we should educate people in believing that the computers are reliable. Knowing what is right or wrong in using a computer is one of the many implications in relying a computerize system

Ethical Dilemma- Chapter 8

Consider Alice, who is a staff member in a computer science department in New Zealand. She applies for a job at a university in the UK and is invited to travel to the UK for three-hour interview. Thus, Alice will have to fly some ten thousand miles each way in order to be present for three hours at the interview. Let us suppose that you are heading the interview committee in the UK, and are therefore Alice's primary point of contact, Alice send you an e-mail asking whether it would be possible for her to be interviewed using video conferencing facilities. She points out that this will not only save her a huge amount of flying time (at least 20 hours each way), buy also who will alleviate stress and furthermore - as she mentions - avoiding long-haul journey that are not absolutely necessary has a positive impact on the environment. in this respect she points out the significant amount of fuel that will be burnt in transporting her from New Zealand to the UK and on her return journey. She has access to high-quality video conferencing facilities and so does your university in the UK.

You bring this situation to the attention of other members of the interview committee, your head of department, and the like -- but find that nobody is particularly willing to make use of video conferencing facilities. This surprises you, especially as after all you are working in a computer science /IT department and therefore had supposed that staff would have been quite willing to embrace new technologies. You mention that costs will be saved in not having to pay Alice's airfare, and also stress that this is an opportunity to make use of computer technologies to avoid negative impact on the environment(in actual fact it is surprising how much fuel is consumed in supporting Alice's round-trip-the world trip).

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What are your views on the situation?

            If I were one of the interview committees, I will embrace that unique kind of job interview. I am highly in favor to that video conferencing as another way of interviewing the applicants but only applicable to preliminary interviews. Since both parties can access to it, why not? The interview still made possible. But as soon that she passed the video conferencing interview that would be the time that she has to leave her country to UK for formal interview.

Do you feel that this highlights (even in a small way) the opportunity to reduce environmental damage by using technologies to support communication and therefore avoid unnecessary travel?

Yes, that would be a great help to our environment.  Say for an instance, she left her country to UK for her first job interview and unfortunately, she failed. We can say that it is a waste of money and at the same time contributes pollution. Whereas if she passed the preliminary interview by using the video conferencing, she knows that greater opportunity is waiting for her. With that, leaving her place is of great purpose.

Do you believe that people should be willing to adapt to the use of such videoconferencing technologies -- is this ethical issue?

            I believe that people can adapt it easily. Businesses nowadays are always thinking for technological advancement that would create an edge among the others. With that, time will come that those people will willingly embrace the beauty of computer technologies. Of course, it will be held ethical in the eyes of human if it will not be used for some malicious and immoral acts.

Ethical Dilemma 7

Ethical Dilemma 7

So far in this chapter we have not paid any particular attention to the impact of ICT on older people – people who have previously lived in a fairly stable environment. Today the momentum of change (in which computer - based technologies play a pivotal role) is ever increasing. Consequently, older people are becoming ever more concerned and bewildered by the constant alterations that are occurring in practically every aspect of their daily lives. Stability is being replaced by instability. As younger people embrace e-mail, cellular phones, text messaging and the like, the older generations see their post offices closing, no longer is there any personal contact at the bank, and who knows for how much longer they will able to use a chequebook?

1.      How do you perceive the ramifications of computer-based technologies and the current pace of change impacting on older people?

Answer:  Technology nowadays is very rampant and faced a big consequence of the traditional approach on how people lived their lives especially those our elderly grandparents or even our parents. Computer-based technologies are widely used nowadays since technology plays a great role in the society. It makes all works easier but the older ones had great impact on this advancement because they are not used to this kind of technologies.

2.      To what extent are they becoming increasingly isolated?

Answer:  Not really as isolated because we are now in the technology age in which though some of older people cannot jive with it there are some oldies that can go with the flow, as what a telephone and internet provider advertise there is a techie grandmother who really loves using technology especially the internet. Though we cannot deny that these technologies are new to them but somehow they become aware of how technology runs during these days.

3.      Is direct personal contact being gradually eroded?

Answer:  Yes

4.      Perhaps discuss these issues with an older person that you know, such as a family member. Identify the issues.

Answer: There are really some issues regarding with the technology with the older people but it is not necessary that they are being isolated by the others. In their views they just don’t like what the teens are doing now with the technology. Some of the teens or younger ones are becoming so sluggish because of the technological advancements so they perceive technology as a bad factor for the youth, but somehow they are not against with it they just didn’t get easily or used easily with it.

5.      Have these people gained as a consequence of the proliferation of and reliance we place upon computer- based technologies and the pace of change that has ensued?

Answer:  Yes.