IT Ethics
Responsibility
Winterberg | Dreamstime.com
O
nce the rockets
are up, who cares
where they come
down? Thats not
my department, says Wernher
von Braun. So go the lyrics of
Tom Lehrers song, Wernher
von Braun. They neatly capture
the notion that engineers and ap-
plied scientists should confine
themselves to solving the techni-
cal problems that their organiza-
tional superiors assign to them.
Defining the problems and decid-
ing what to do with the solutions
shouldnt concern them.
The eminent rocket scientist
Wernher von Braun evidently accept-
ed this philosophy. During World
War II, he led the development of
the V-2 missile that the Nazis used
against the population of London.
(He was, at the time, a Nazi party
member and an SS officer; www.
answers.com/topic/wernher-von-braun).
In contrast, Victor Paschkis, a
distinguished professor of me-
chanical engineering, cared very
much about where the rockets
came down.1 He championed the
idea that engineers and scientists
should feel personally responsible
for the consequences of their work.
Victor Paschkis
As one of those influenced by
Paschkis, I will briefly sketch some
6 IT Pro May/June 2010 Published by the IEEE Computer Society 1520-9202/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE
in Engineering:
Victor Paschkis vs.
Wernher von Braun
Stephen H. Unger, IEEE Fellow
of the ideas and achievements of
this very interesting man.
A Computing Pioneer
Prior to the development of digital
computers, one of the most pow-
erful aids to computation in engi-
neering and the sciences was the
direct analog computer. Paschkis
was a principal originator of this
technology, which uses large net-
works of resistors and capacitors to
simulate complex problems, usually
in the areas of heat or mass flow.2
Shortly after coming to the
US from Austria in 1938, Pasch-
kis joined the Mechanical En-
gineering Department faculty at
Columbia University and founded
the Heat and Mass Flow Analyzer
Laboratory. Over the next three
decades, this facility was used in
the design of industrial furnaces
and other facilities and was a valu-
able tool for researchers dealing
with complex heat and mass flow
problems. The technology was
eventually extended to include vac-
uum tubes and electrolytic tanks to
simulate more complex processes.
An Advocate for Social
Responsibility in Science
At some point after joining the
Society of Friends (Quakers),
Paschkis began promulgating the
idea that scientists and engineers
cant properly ignore their con-
sciences during working hours.
They should, he argued, behave
as moral people with respect
to their work.3 To disseminate
this viewpoint more widely, in
1949 he formed the Society for
Social Responsibility in Science.4
Prominent SSRS supporters in-
cluded Albert Einstein and Linus
Pauling. Its interesting that, at
about the same time, Norbert Wie-
ner expressed similar views about
the personal responsibility of sci-
entists and engineers for the con-
sequences of their work. In 1947,
Wiener wrote, I do not expect to
publish any future work of mine
which may do damage in the hands
of irresponsible militarists.5
Paschkis didnt operate very
much via the printed word; his in-
fluence was exerted more through
personal contacts. He and the
SSRS didnt attempt to pressure
people, lobby, or gain public at-
tention. They tried to educate in-
dividuals on a one-on-one basis
or by addressing small groups.
Paschkis main focus, driven by
his pacifist convictions, was to
oppose using technology to fa-
cilitate violence. He rejected the
argument that the end justifies
the means, believing rather that
the means shape the ends. How-
ever, his general position was that
engineers and scientists shouldnt
use their professional skills for
purposes that conflict with their
own moral beliefs. For example,
although engineers who view
hard liquor as intrinsically harm-
ful shouldnt help design whiskey
distilleries, those who feel that,
on balance, whiskey is a benign
product can engage in such activ-
ity as responsible professionals.
In line with this position, al-
though Paschkis considered par-
ticipation inand preparation
forwar to be morally wrong, he
didnt try to impose his views on
members of his laboratory, nor did
he prevent them from working on
projects that he considered im-
moral. This attitude reflects the
concept that engineering ethics is
a subset of general ethics. So, two
people behaving as ethical engi-
neers might, on certain matters,
sharply disagree about certain
issues outside the framework of
engineering. For example, some
engineers might feel that antimis-
sile defense systems could help
avert war, while others might view
them as threats to peace.
In 1972, Paschkis was a princi-
pal founder of the Technology and
Society Division of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers.
About the same time, he also
helped form the Committee for
Social Responsibility in Engineer-
ing, which evolved into the IEEE
Committee on the Social Implica-
tions of Technology and then the
IEEE Society on the Social Im-
plications of Technology (www.
ieeessit.org). In 1986, Paschkis re-
ceived the American Association
for the Advancement of Sciences
Award for Scientific Freedom and
Responsibility (http://archives.aaas.
org/people.php?p_id=334).
Todays Conscientious
Engineers
There are two principal catego-
ries of concern about engineering
work. The first is product quality,
which includes concerns about
product performance, safety haz-
ards, and unnecessary pollution.
The end-use problem is less
common, since engineers can
usually avoid taking jobs associ-
ated with products they consider
intrinsically immoralsuch as
bacteriological weapons. How-
ever, there are situations in which
engineers encounter end-use is-
sues. The most common probably
occurs when theyre pressured to
accept a transfer within their com-
pany to a project they consider
morally unacceptable. Particu-
larly at a time when, for a variety
of reasons, jobs are scarce, some
engineers face painful choices.
A fundamental problem con-
cerning end use is that its not
always easy to predict how the
results of a project will be ap-
plied. When there are multiple
applicationssome good, some
badyou must decide whether
the good is likely to outweigh
the bad. Some important indica-
tors are who is sponsoring the
work and how similar work has
been applied. For example, if you
dont want to contribute to weap-
ons development, you probably
shouldnt accept work sponsored
by the Department of Defense.
M
ost, though certainly
not all, engineers and
scientists accept the
idea of personal responsibility for
the consequences of their work.
Of course, as Ive indicated, theres
still plenty of room for disagree-
ment among them about various
end-use issues. Unfortunately,
while many engineers are willing
to stick their necks out on matters
of principle,6 they havent been
able to band together in sufficient
numbers to defend their rights
to practice ethically. This lack
of solidarity leaves them heavily
outgunned in conflicts with
employers over matters of con-
science. The same lack of solidar-
ity has also, incidentally, left them
exposed to career damageoften
career-endingas employers ex-
port their jobs to low-pay coun-
tries, or import people from such
countries to work here for less
pay.7 We need to work together
via engineering organizations
professional societies or unions
to defend the rights of individual
engineers to have jobs in their own
country and to be able to practice
ethically.
Acknowledgment
This is an extension of my 5 Dec. 2009 blog,
posted at http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/
articles/paschkis.html?pagewanted=1.
References
1. G. Fowler, Victor Paschkis, 93, A
Retired Professor and Pacifist, Is
Dead, The New York Times, 20 June
1991, www.nytimes.com/1991/06/
20/obituaries/victor-paschkis-93-a-
retired-professor-and-pacifist-is-dead.
html.
2. V. Paschkis, Direct Analog Computers,
Interscience Publishers, 1968.
3. V. Paschkis, The Scientists Re-
sponsibility: A Pacifist View, Bull.
Atomic Scientists, Sept. 1955, p. 265.
4. Society for Social Responsibil-
ity in Science, Science, vol. 118,
no. 3076, 1953, p. 3.
5. N. Wiener, A Scientist Rebels,
Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 1947, p. 46.
6. S.H. Unger, Man Rescues Coast
Guard, blog, 8 July 2007, http://
w w w1.cs.columbia.edu /~unger/
articles/deKort.html.
7. S.H. Unger, Jobs, blog, 4 Aug. 2007,
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/
articles/jobs.html.
Stephen H. Unger is an engineer and
a professor emeritus of computer science
and electrical engineering at Columbia
University. He chaired the IEEE Ethics
Committee from 1997 to 1998. Contact
him at unger@cs.columbia.edu.
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