Ethics assignment 1

This week’s class talks about how important ethics is as it not only affects specific problems that we as engineers may encounter like the rights of a scientific paper but also large scale issues that can affect the lives of millions. Donald Trump, the president former and current president of the United States has purged words that he deems are unacceptable for use in scientific works including but not limited to: LGBTQ, Black and Latinx, race, women (NSF 2025). Though I agree that certain bias words should not be included in unrelated scientific works, I strongly feel that the words that were banned or heavily discouraged for being used is inappropriate and targeted. There should be no reason to outlaw these words as it erases the identity those who are part of those studies, those affected, and even those that are reading them. Not being allowed to mention attributes that identify who you are and the culture that you are apart of is erasure of who you are as a person and what you are able to contribute to society.

This branches into the many examples that the speaker talked about. I would like to highlight his analysis of Alan Turing where he had cracked the code which single-handedly shortened WW2 saving many lives, but was effectively killed by the government he had helped since he was gay. Instead of being hailed as a hero for his efforts or treated as a victim of a robbery, it is only the fact that he was gay that is the true crime. Allowing the government to be able to persecute you on the basis of what gender you want to be with is not only unlawful, but it is invasive and demeaning as they are not protecting the innocent citizens they were sworn to protect but oppressing values they themselves do not agree with.

Another example would be Onesimus who advocated for variolation but faced overwhelming racial opposition. While he had the medical knowledge that could save the people in Boston from small pox, he was attacked and ridiculed because of the color of his skin. But it was that color of his skin, his African origins that gave him this knowledge that could help protect against small pox. Erasure of race and societal judgement on minorities not only hinders active progress in scientific revolutions but traps us in traditional mindsets of those that set the standards.

Curiously, the words not banned such as white, male, majority represent the values and the people that the administration has chosen to protect. If citizens can not be expected to be protected by the government they elected because of who they choose to love or identify as, how can we expect our society to grow and continue to develop new innovations that will benefit millions if only that select group has a voice?