> As an engineer, I shall participate in none but honest enterprises. When needed, my skill and knowledge shall be given without reservation for the public good.
I've taken a similar oath, but I don't think it really addresses polotics's concerns. Each of his mentioned topics are subjects which you could discuss and debate at length because reasonable people could disagree, especially when considering specific cases.
The Obligation is not specific enough to deal with complex problems which may have multiple different points of view. The point of it is for you to think about the morality of your actions and to do what you think is right. But, polotics would presumably like to require you to do what he thinks is right.
The problem is that nobody really knows what "Do No Harm" really means, so it's effectively useless to include this in your license unless your goal is to get nobody to use it.
There are some clear examples mentioned in the DNH license text. Also, if a project or company discovers their purpose or business model has adverse effects for a significant population or evosystem, that would signify harm. The "ethical source" licenses are encouraging software developers to be proactive in our duty of care for the general public.
That list is not useful, for two reasons: one, the quality of the list isn’t great, because it’s by no means exhaustive, is subject to the ethical whims of the maintainer, and is too general (e.g. “violence (except when required to protect public safety)”-what is this supposed to mean? Can’t every government say they only perpetuate violence to protect public safety?) The other part is that you also need to prove that I have been doing the action, which hard: if my company sells computers and some of them end up going to the NRC so they can send email, is the company suddenly in violation of the license?
I understand that ethical definitions are fuzzy. Just because we find confusing or unresolved ethical areas, does not invalidate efforts to clarify an ethical standpoint.
The list can never be complete, nor should it be exhaustive, but it is a living document (PRs are welcome). An ETHICS text is intended a candle in an otherwise darkened space. It is intended to promote critical thought about these pressing issues, and to take action to improve ourselves, our projects, companies, and communities.
> As an engineer, I shall participate in none but honest enterprises. When needed, my skill and knowledge shall be given without reservation for the public good.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineer's_Ring#The_Obligati...