Greg WilsonThe "ethics in software engineering" classes I've seen use things like Therac-25 as examples, but it seems pretty esoteric to most students, and with near-daily mass shootings in the news, the loss of life does not impress. Does anyone currently teach a software ethics course that focuses primarily on memetic threats, e.g., developers' responsibility/liability w.r.t. disinformation/radicalization that leads to mass killings or targeted harassment? If so, pointers welcome.
Ian Douglas Scott@gvwilson Therac-25 is definitely worth mentioning, but teaching only things like that sends the wrong message: that ethics needn't be a concern for the majority of software developers that never work on things so directly able to end or save lives.
I don't actually know what the ethics class at my university taught because I didn't take it. It wasn't required for "Computer Science", only the "Computer Science and Engineering" major. Maybe that sends the same message.