“It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter.”

— Nathaniel Borenstein

Footnote in a paper about computational email. <br class="br"> Computational Mail as Network Infrastructure for Computer-Supported Cooperative Work http://www.guppylake.com/~nsb/CSCW-ATOMICMAIL.txt <br class="br"> Collected quotes about computer languages http://www.sysprog.net/quotlang.html <br class="br">Attributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. …" by Nathaniel Borenstein?

Nathaniel Borenstein3

American computer scientist 1957

Gordon Latto (doctor) (1911–1998)

Interview in The Vegetarians by Rynn Berry (Autumn Press, 1979), p. 123.

“Writing non-free software is not an ethically legitimate activity, so if people who do this run into trouble, that's good! All businesses based on non-free software ought to fail, and the sooner the better.”

Richard Stallman (1953) American software freedom activist, short story writer and computer programmer, founder of the GNU project

On the kde-licensing mailing list, (13 April 1998) https://marc.info/?l=kde-licensing&m=89249041326259&w=2 <br class="br">1990s

“11: If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.”

Alan Perlis Epigrams on Programming

Epigrams on Programming, 1982

“As a guide to engineering ethics, I should like to commend to you a liberal adaptation of the injunction contained in the oath of Hippocrates that the professional man do nothing that will harm his client.”

Hyman George Rickover (1900–1986) United States admiral

The Rickover Effect (1992)
Context: As a guide to engineering ethics, I should like to commend to you a liberal adaptation of the injunction contained in the oath of Hippocrates that the professional man do nothing that will harm his client. Since engineering is a profession which affects the material basis of everyone’s life, there is almost always an unconsulted third party involved in any contact between the engineer and those who employ him — and that is the country, the people as a whole. These, too, are the engineer’s clients, albeit involuntarily. Engineering ethics ought therefore to safeguard their interests most carefully. Knowing more about the public effects his work will have, the engineer ought to consider himself an “officer of the court” and keep the general interest always in mind.

“A basic change in political ethics is required for the realization of the proposal [The dialog among civilizations].”

Mohammad Khatami (1943) Iranian prominent reformist politician, scholar and shiite faqih.

UNESCO 1999
Attributed

“Western Science, in its present form, is toxic. It must be infused with love and humility, and an ethical code of honor to renounce any experiment or procedure that causes harm to the environment.”

Krishna Kant Shukla (1959) Indian Classical musician

“Professionals identify strongly with their professions, more strongly than with their clients or their employers. They not only observe professional standards, they believe that only members of their professions have the competence and ethics to enforce these standards. Similarly, professionals insist that outsiders cannot properly supervise their activities.
Management consulting and software engineering, for example, do not qualify as recognized professions. Without doubt, those who do these jobs well have rare expertise. Nevertheless, the ultimate judges of their expertise are their clients or their supervisors, and their employers set and enforce their ethical codes and performance standards”

William H. Starbuck (1934) American academic

Source: Learning by knowledge‐intensive firms," 1992, p. 717

“If we are able to keep ourselves free from bitterness and vindictiveness, our procedure in every situation will be determined by our judgement as to which type of persuasiveness and which method of non-violent restraint are under the circumstances most ethical and most effective.”

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

The Personality of Jesus (1932)
Context: If we acquiesce in the presence of injustice and misery, we not only fail to remove exploitation and poverty, but we abdicate in favor of those who seek deliverance by violence. On the other hand, if we offer effective non-violent resistance, we may bring suffering upon both evildoers and victims. If we are able to keep ourselves free from bitterness and vindictiveness, our procedure in every situation will be determined by our judgement as to which type of persuasiveness and which method of non-violent restraint are under the circumstances most ethical and most effective. We will than go forward, even if the journey leads to the cross. Without suffering, there can be no redemption.

“The solitude of writing is a solitude without which writing could not be produced, or would crumble, drained bloodless by the search for something else to write.”

Marguerite Duras (1914–1996) French writer and film director

Source: Writing

“I would rather go to Baghdad than go to a professional basketball game.”

Don Imus (1940–2019) Radio personality

Imus in the Morning, (29 March 2007)

“It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Nathaniel Borenstein3

Related quotes

Related topics