1. A brief summary of the article:
The article “Crafting a sustainable future for humanity” discusses the growing need to consider equality in the engineering projects that are carried out within societies. Issues such as rights and well-being, the article indicates, need to be informed alongside the perspectives of engineering projects that are undertaken. The article indicates that there are a variety of factors, including agriculture, industrial manufacturing, and government involvement that are related to promoting a sustainable future. Better understanding how people and sustainable practices are related will allow these projects to be integrated into society and culture to a wider degree (Science Daily). Engineers should therefore work alongside social and cultural experts in order to enhance their perspectives.
2. An explanation of how the details of the story relate to at least two concepts from class:
Ideas such as risk and liability in engineering demonstrate that there is an underlying connection to social and cultural needs. The fact that the public is fundamentally connected to any engineering practices dictate the need to critically evaluate these projects and their intended purposes in order to ensure that they have the general public's good in mind. Understanding the likelihood and magnitude and likelihood of specific forms of harm is therefore necessary to promote the public good (Harris, Pritchard, and Rabins 135). Furthermore, the relationship between engineers and the environment should be considered as well. The implications of engineering projects on the environmental context that they exist within is often complex and requires a level of expertise to determine. The development of specific criteria to maintain healthy environmental policies is necessary (Harris, Pritchard, and Rabins 191).
3. An evaluation of the actors in the case according to some of the ethical principles or ideas we have seen in the course material:
The roles of engineers in relation to society and the environmental sustainability of the areas that they work in is an important ethical question. While engineers have the capacity to change and manipulate their environments to a great degree, the level to which they should do this comes into question. The values that society has in relation to the environmental context should therefore be considered. The adoption of technological capabilities naturally presents an intent to use those technologies. However, the fact that these present a profound level of change to the environments in which they exist demonstrates the importance of critically examining any policies that are directed towards such change.
Works Cited
“Crafting a sustainable future for humanity”. Science Daily. 2016. Web.
Harris, Charles E., Pritchard, Michael S., and Rabins, Michael J. Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases. Wadsworth. Print.
