Ethics and Technology – Part 5

• Just because you can so something does not mean you should
  
• Just because something is legal does not mean it is ethical
  
• Just because something is ethical does not mean moral
  
• Processes are universal
  
• Laws are universal
  
• You do not have to believe in something to be affected by it
  
• Situational ethics is a myth – an oxymoron
  

Lets say you are standing on the roof of a to story building – your friend says I do not believe in gravity it does not apply to me, you warn them – do not you will fall to your death - they step off the side. 

• what do you think will happen to them? 
  

I am too lazy to lie I barely remember what I said when I tell the true if I lied that is way to much information to keep up with especially because even now I have to document the important stuff 

Consider this – one of the problems is the belt line is they create an environment conducive to lying – there is no consequence for dishonesty in fact it is encouraged – one of the first things they teach politicians is never put anything in writing, answer everything ambiguously, and never say “I was wrong or I made a mistake” and goodness forbid “You are/were right!” 

Where am I going with all of this – bare with me – as you know so many people are trying to “Ends meet” and yet now one is using common sense. Would you throw gas or kerosene on a forest fire? Would you push water into a sinking ship? Allow me to explain – doing something just to say look at what I am did is a mistake and leads to bad short sighted decisions.  I will not criticize the actions of President’s Bush or Obama other than to say there is a better way using existing processes. 

Let’s make the following associates to make this easier to digest

• Ocean (water) is the economy
  
• The eb and flow – cash flow
  
• The rain, mountain run of, river supplies, etc – income
  
• The Ships (vessels) – the respective businesses 

Following me so far - good, lets say there is a hole in side of the boat – first try to get water out while you assess the damage. While you are assessing the damage you make a simple determination – save or scuttle (abandon) this ship. 

Let’s assume you determine the damage is so sever a decision is made to scuttle you put all hand on available life boats and work to get either to land or the nearest ship. Of course an investigation is conducted the results of the investigation are presented to the admiral staff for corrective policies and procedures and so decisions can be made regarding who the crew of the ship we be redeployed – some will go to new ships, some retired, some assigned desk jobs, but changes will be made.   

Let’s assume determine the damage is such that you can save the ship. You patch the hole and the primary mission of the vessel changes – survive and plot a course to dry-dock so proper repairs can be made. During these repairs an investigation will occur to determine cause of damage. Based on the results new ship procedures will be created and possibly all or part of the senior and executive staff of the vessel will be replaced. Once the final inspection of the vessel is performed and all repairs complete, procedures in place and crew changed done the vessel will again be sea worthy. 

Waiting for me to ties all of this together – I promise it is coming soon, remember processes are universal. So are you following so far - here is the question (and no I am not against bailouts) – I am against lack of common sense – where are the audits to determine if a business is financially worth saving? Where is the financial audit (assessment) to see if it is capable of being profitable or if it is even worth saving? 

Ready for me to connect the dots? 

You have an old PC, security or sound system

You perform an assessment of the system to determine if it will continue to service your needs, if it can be updated or repaired, or if is needs to be discarded.

• How stable is system
  
• Does it work well
  
• Can it do what is required
  
• How much potential is there for growth
  
• Can it be upgraded
  
• What is the cost of the upgrade
• What is the life of the upgrade
• Does the O/S support the software available
  
• What are the system capabilities
  
• Is the system or its enclosure damaged
  
• What is the ROI is a new purchase
• What is the TCO of current system
• What is TCO of new system
• etc

Lets assume it is discarded – you look at your needs and then you determine what can meet those need and you create a list of minimum specifications based on need – lets do PC - Will you use it for:

• Word Processing
  
• Graphic Design
  
• Studio work
  
• Multimedia presentations
  
• A/V control System
  
• File server
  
• CAD
  
• How long do you plan to use it
  
• Is it your primary or secondary PC
  
• Is it part of a business domain or home network
  
• Will storage be locale or remove
  
• Do you need ability to record to CD or DVD
  
• How many screen will you need
  
• What kind of graphics cards do you need
  
• Will you have the need to connect to an external monitor or TV
  
• Will you the printing to a local printer, a network printer or a plotter
  
• Etc 

Are you following so far?

Only after asking all of these and many other questions can you make a disposition as the a suitable system. Only after performing an audit can you decide if an existing PC (vessel or business) is worth saving. 

Here is the rub - you must be careful because as a technologiest you understand how little most know about what you do and they really do not get you know far more about what they want then often they themselves do and you should not exploit them or their ignorance. Sure you can but doing so does no one involved any good. 

Consider this video - here is the question - care to spectulate how this is connected?