Download - The Harm that Engineers Do
![Page 1: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Harm that Engineers Do
• Category 1: Unexpected, unintentional harm.
• Category 2: Expected, unintentional harm.
![Page 2: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Example:
A new drug cures 90% of cancer cases.
In 100% of cases, there are serious side-effects: hair loss and severe gastro-intestinal discomfort, often leading to ulcers.
The 10% not cured suffer expected, unintended harm.
![Page 3: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Example:
A new product has been developed that willmake life easier and more convenient forpeople.
Its side-effects will kill 50,000 North Americans every year.
Should it be developed?
![Page 4: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
![Page 5: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Car A: List price $20,000
![Page 6: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Car B: List price $21,000
![Page 7: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
![Page 8: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
![Page 9: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Questions for Cost-Benefit Analysis
Who pays the cost?
Who gets the benefit?
Who makes the decision?
What is the responsibility of the individual engineer?
![Page 11: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
![Page 12: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
![Page 13: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
![Page 14: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Jettison heavy radio-isotope generator:
Generator debris increases radiation deaths by 50 (total) worldwide over next 10 years
50% chance Shuttle survives
Don’t jettison:
No chance Shuttle survives, 50% chancegenerator stays intact.
![Page 15: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Time Value of Money
How much must I promise to pay you next September to get you to lend me $100 right now?
(assuming your final grade is not affected either way)
![Page 16: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Time Value of Money
Getting $M next September is as good as getting $M/(1+i) right now
So getting $M in n years is as good as getting
$M/(1+i)n right now
![Page 17: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
![Page 18: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
![Page 19: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Time Value of Money
From the results just calculated, we can deduce that:
Saving the lives of ten billion people in 3000 ADis worth
10 10 lives * 10 7 $/life----------------------------- right now. (1.05)994
![Page 20: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Time Value of Money
10 10 lives * 10 7 $/life----------------------------- = $0.06. (1.05)994
![Page 21: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
You run a lab that develops cereal crops for the FAO. One of
your genetic engineers has developed a strain of rice with very high
yields, protein and vitamin content.
![Page 22: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
On the way to the press conference, the
engineer tells you that to create this rice, she has spliced segments of cow and pig DNA
into the cereal genome.
![Page 23: The Harm that Engineers Do](https://reader030.vdocuments.site/reader030/viewer/2022020117/56813043550346895d95e1f2/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
The rice could prevent malnutrition in many parts of the world.
But if these genetic modifications become known, many people will refuse to eat it.
So, the engineer suggests, no-one else needs to be told.