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In This Issue: QUOTE OF THE MONTH by Bertrand Russell. "what makes people ethical?" by
Stuart Bechman and Jeannie Mortensen. "PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND THE DARK
SIDE OF THE INTERNET" by Dr. Peter Anderson. "THE WORLD IN TERMS WE CAN EASILY
UNDERSTAND" contributed by Catherine Curley. "FRIDAY FORUM ON EVOLUTION" by Dave
Silva. "WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF FIRE" "RULES TO LIVE BY" by Jerry Parks Quote Of The Month Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supports, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make the world a fit place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it. Bertrand Russell WHAT MAKES PEOPLE ETHICAL? By Stuart Bechman and Jeannie Mortensen "Are there universal, absolute ethics that transcend culture and religion? Can they be taught? What factors encourage or discourage the development of ethics in any person? In our presentation, we try to provide a fresh approach to these questions, starting with a study of Nazi Holocaust rescuers to determine how to recognize and qualify ethical behavior. From there, we venture into comparisons with other models of ethics and look for common vs. diverging values. In the course of our presentation, we reveal a progressive ethics model which helps to identify the progression of ethical development in children throughout their childhood. We conclude our presentation by focusing on approaches that work and don’t work in providing support for young people to develop ethical values." "Stuart Bechman is a self—employed computer software trainer and consultant from Simi Valley, as well as a local freethought activist. Jeanie Mortensen is also a consultant and a practicing Mormon. They became interested in the topic of ethics as they struggled with their own personal relationship to reconcile their distinctly separate backgrounds and viewpoints of their families and communities. This presentation, based on a book called ‘Ethical People: How They Get To Be That Way’, by Arthur Dobrin (copyright 1998), provided much insight on that issue." Persuasive Technologies and The Dark Side of the Internet By Peter Anderson, Ph.D. This discussion is motivated by a series of articles entitled "Persuasive Technologies" in the May 1999 issue of the Communications of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), several by researchers in the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University. "Aimed largely at children today, persuasion is already pert of many technologies, but many more are on the way for everyone else". Some of the technologies are "Baby Think It Over" a "computerized doll for teens simulating the difficulties of parenthood", "Hygiene Guard", an "employee monitoring system to encourage hand-washing after bathroom use", and "Onsale.com", an "online auction system treating bidding as playing, and buying as winning". In addition to onsale.com there are many other auction sites on the Internet ready to help you make a deal and part with a bit of cash in the process. Also, online gambling (legal and illegal) and various other forms of vice, and numerous scams for the unwary. The Internet can be a wonderful research, communication and educational tool, but it does have its dark side also. Persuasive Technologies — what are they doing to us now? Madison Avenue, Hollywood, the smoke-filled rooms — it wasn’t bad enough that they were getting to us on the radio, in magazines and newspapers, and on TV — now they’re going high tech! You may not hear of some of these things for awhile. The media and other "persuaders" may not be too willing to reveal some of the technologies they are using to entice us to buy products and/or act in ways that are suitable to their purposes. The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) has a group of members dedicated to the responsible use of computer technology who are exploring the theory, design, and analysis of computers in persuasive technologies, or "captology" (Computers As Persuasive Technology) — see www.captology.org, and there is a group of researchers in the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University’s Center for the Study of Language and Information. There are other forms of persuasion, certainly, but the novelty and increasing pervasiveness of computers and the Internet make them increasingly powerful agents for persuasion. Also, there are other important uses for computers and the Internet — some good and some bad. For example, computer games can be educational or a source of innocent entertainment, but, too often, they seem to emphasize destructive behavior and serve as training agents for violent acts — effective enough that some games, or simulators, are used for military and police training. Some of the domains of persuasive technology (from "The Landscape of Persuasive Technologies") are: Marketing — represented by the explosive growth of e-commerce on the Web and advertising in the form of those multifaceted, flashing, dynamic displays on the various Web sites. An example of a more novel form of marketing are the various on-line auction sites "...treating bidding as playing, and buying as winning". Health — "...persuasive technologies promoting wellness benefit from a large and enthusiastic potential market and are unlikely to raise serious ethical questions" (What about all the quack medicines and procedures testified to by well meaning persons and/or self serving frauds?). One example here is the "Baby Think It Over" product (www.btio.com), a computerized doll for teens simulating the difficulties of parenthood. "The ‘baby’ is programmed to cry at random intervals during the day and night; only a key attached to the student ‘parent’s’ wrist, when held into the baby for 5 to 15 minutes, will quiet it. A small computer inside Baby Think It Over logs neglectful inattention to cries or other mistreatment of the baby for later analysis by a teacher (see www.btio.com)". "The device is shaped like and weighs as much as a real, flesh-and-blood infant. And its head is weighted to require support when it is held. When the ‘baby’ cries, there is no externally accessible volume control, just as in a real baby "What are the ethical implications of your technology?" "They are profound. Few technologies have the potential to change society as much as this one has. Teach people to take the decision to become a parent more seriously, and you’ve made a better future for everyone Another example — "Alcohol 101 is a CD-ROM-based virtual social environment designed to influence college students’ attitudes and behaviors regarding alcohol consumption" "...created in partnership with The Century Council, a national not-for-profit organization funded by U.S. distillers to combat alcohol abuse (www.centurycouncil.org)". "How have people responded to Alcohol 101?" "On the positive side, people like the program’s interactivity and the opportunity it provides to test decisions regarding alcohol consumption. On the negative side, some people are concerned with technology substituting for people". "Alcohol 101 is a brief intervention; students use it for one or two hours maximum. This is a good beginning, but such intervention requires ongoing support through various channels". Safety - "As in promoting health, promoting safety and security has widespread appeal; for example, few people would find fault with a technology that seeks to persuade drivers to reduce their speed (see www.kustomsignals.com). However, unlike health, safety often hinges on collective behavior, and so can lead to disputes about related ethical issues". "Hygiene Guard is a representative technology for motivating
safety behavior installed in restaurant and hospital employee restrooms to
monitor workers hand-washing behavior. Each employee is assigned a badge;
during any trip to the bathroom, the employee has to use the sink for a set
minimum period (timed by how long the water runs); failure to do so is recorded
by a central observer. The overseer role of Hygiene Guard is more adversarial
than many persuasive technologies (see www.hygieneguard.com). Although some
people concerned about privacy would object to such technology, others would suggest
the outcomes it promotes — consumer safety
and preventing the spread of disease —justify the means". Environmental Conservation - "Among the many opportunities for developing persuasive technologies in this domain is the Scorecard.org Web site, which is designed to motivate environmentally friendly behavior. Sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund, Scorecard.org provides information on community pollution at a local level; it also suggest actions users can take to address pollution problems, then facilitates taking them (such as sending template faxes to polluting companies)". Another article in the series is "Understanding the Seductive Experience". The authors mean something more like "enticement", or "appeal", than the traditional meaning, "leading astray", for seduction. They talk of the "seductive appeal" of a new car, the Apple iMac, and other products that are desired more for their outward appearance than for their usefulness or long term qualities. "Seduction plays an important role in automobile design, architecture, and entertainment —fields that can offer insight into how seduction works. Therefore, the two most important questions for software designers concerning the use of seduction are: How and why is it effective? And what does the answer mean for the future of technology?" "How to Seduce" "Seduction, like all emotions, is a process. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And while the first and last steps are momentary, the middle can be drawn out almost indefinitely. The first step is enticement — the initial contact attracting a potential customer or user. This contact may be through advertising (as in the original Apple Macintosh television ad), which establishes the product’s tone, mood, and message. But at some point, the initial experience with the product itself needs to entice the viewer, customer, or audience. The key to enticement is first to get the audience’s attention, then to make a promise. This attention-getting device — the interface itself — may be loud, soft, beautiful, or ugly, but it has to differentiate itself from both its competition and its surroundings, or environment. Only by going to an extreme of some kind can the product get itself noticed to begin with". "Immediately afterward, the product has to make a promise of some kind to hold that attention. It might be a promise to be interesting, exciting, or beautiful, but the more closely the promise connects with the goals and emotional aspirations of its viewers, the more deeply it begins to seduce. This connection, by the way, is how brands are built, and promises are the cornerstones of branding. Being loud or diverting attention momentarily is not enough. If the promise doesn’t hook the customer, the product won’t have an opportunity to play out its message". "Worth noting here is that because seduction works through emotions and personal goals —which are different for everybody — effective seductive experiences are tailored to individuals, or, at least, to groups sharing a similar culture. No seduction works on everyone without modification". "The next and ultimately most important step is to reward for the attention given and a reason to invest more emotion into the experience, or the audience will simply leave. This step is where the quality of the interaction design in a product is most critical, when visual design will have become tiresome, unlikely to be able to differentiate itself or be new anymore. Instead, the product itself has to fulfill based on its function and feel. The longer it can do this, drawing the experience out over time, the more successful it will be". "Think of long-running television shows, like "M*A*S*H", "Seinfeld", and "The Young and the Restless"; they survive by continuing the emotional engagement, making good on past promises, and making new ones for the future". "Some clothes.., achieve this status in their customers’ lives, because they continually reflect back desired attributes and performance. They acquire this status chiefly through quality design, while focusing on the parts of the experience that matter most to their performance — the feel of a fabric, the fit of a garment,…." "Growth is another common theme in seductive relationships. As long as the user is growing emotionally or intellectually in some way due to the experience, the product or experience will be viewed as valuable..." "The final step in a seduction is to end it, although doing so is not always necessary. However, when the experience is ending, the seduction should not leave the audience with a bad or worthless feeling, or it will tend to caution them against allowing themselves to be seduced in the Leaving the customer with a good feeling is important for developers and manufacturers for whom customer retention and brand strength — that is, their future — are important". "Increasingly, we will see computers in new roles motivating health behaviors, promoting safety, promoting eco-friendly behavior, and selling products and services. Still other persuasive technologies will emerge in areas we can’t yet predict". ‘This forecast may sound like bad news — a world full of inescapable compute technology constantly prodding and provoking us. While such a technological environment could develop, in most of the important cases, we’ll choose the technologies we want to persuade us — just as we choose a personal trainer at the gym or a tutor for our children". (from the introductory article on Persuasive Technologies) The World in Terms We
Can Easily
Understand: Contributed by Catherine Curley. If we could shrink the earth’s population to
a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining
the same, it would look something like the following. There would be: 57 Asians 21 Europeans 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south 8 Africans 52 would be female 48 would be male 70 would be non-white 30 would be white 70 would be non-Christian 30 would be Christian 89 would be heterosexual 11 would be homosexual 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States 80 would live in substandard housing 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would be near death 1 would be near birth 1 (yes, only 1) would have a masters degree 1 would own a computer When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both
acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly
apparent." Friday Forum On Evolution By Dave Silva Dr. Clay Costner moderates a discussion group called Friday Forum, which meets on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month at 7pm. The location is 8101 Painter Ave., in Whittier, about two blocks north of Whittier Blvd. Clay, a new HAOC member, used to call the group "Meeting of Minds", however since there were often widely differing views, such as atheism and religious fundamentalism, Friday Forum seemed more appropriate. Since evolution was the topic at the Oct. 1st meeting Clay invited Frank Farsad, a biology teacher, and Paul Ricci, who used to teach philosophy at Cypress College, to speak on this subject. Pete Anderson, Benito Franqui and myself also attended the meeting. The meeting room is warm and informal, with assorted chairs and tables and there are desserts and beverages available during the meeting. Frank spoke about five minutes on the evidence supporting evolution and Paul spoke briefly on the absence of any sound arguments against the theory of evolution; then the topic was opened for everyone to comment or ask questions. Both Frank and Paul did a great job of answering questions and clearing up some of the misconceptions that are common about evolution. Every discussion about evolution seems to address the question of what the word theory means. Even well educated people believe a theory is a proposition set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation; which is the definition of hypothesis, a word rarely used outside of science and philosophy. This confusion is understandable since a theory starts out as a hypothesis and one definition of theory is: A proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural. However, Darwin's theory of evolution as stated in "Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" in 1859, has stood the test of time and all scientific arguments to refute it. Creationists argue that there are gaps in the fossil record, which is true and is exactly what you would expect to find. As we learn more about evolution we make adjustments and minor corrections, but nothing we have learned refutes the theory. They also argue that God creating life without evolution is a simpler, and therefore a more probable answer. This explanation is inadequate since it tells us nothing about the creation of living things, except to say it was done by magic. Frank used the example of the Lamarckian theory of the early 19th century, which attempted to explain evolution by acquired traits, as a failed theory.
WHAT TO DO IN
CASE OF FIRE During a recent ecumenical gathering, a secretary rushed in shouting, "The building is on fire!" The METHODISTS gathered in the corner and prayed. The BAPTISTS cried, "Where is the water?" The QUAKERS quietly praised God for the blessings that fire brings. The LUTHERANS posted a notice on the door declaring the fire was evil. The ROMAN CATHOLICS passed the plate to cover the damage. The JEWS posted symbols on the doors hoping the fire would pass. The CONGREGATIONALISTS shouted, "Every man for himself!" The FUNDAMENTALISTS proclaimed, "It’s the vengeance of God!" The EPISCOPALIANS formed a procession and marched out. The CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS concluded that there was no fire. The PRESBYTERIANS appointed a chairperson who was to appoint a committee to look into the matter and submit a written report. The UNITARIANS grabbed the fire extinguisher and put the fire out. RULES TO LIVE BY BY JERRY PARKS The golden rule, the ten commandments, our current legal system and its laws are all ways that society has of trying to influence the general populace to "do good" or at least not to "do bad". Clearly the golden rule has been around the longest, and for all its simplicity may still be the best guide for general behavior. It is easy to understand that early societies might have formed some general rules for the members of their groups to live by. The first time someone thought that another person treated him unfairly, that person probably went up to the offender and said "Would you want me to do that to you?" Then it is only a small jump to where the group would get together and make a proposed rule which essentially stated that you should treat other people as you would have them treat you, and don’t treat others in a way that you would not want them to treat you. Possibly going against that rule would end in expulsion of the offender from the group. Such general behavioral rules clearly had to be around long before Christianity, although most Christians cite the "new testament" (Matt 7:12, Luke 6:31) as being the source for what we know as the "golden rule". In any case the Jews, well before the time of Jesus, had a version of the golden rule, and it was probably around long before that in other early societies. Salmon Rushdie was probably right when he said that the sense of good and evil - right and wrong - comes before religion and that religions are made to put form and structure to concepts of good and evil. Thus some form of the golden rule was probably around before man ever got around to creating the first religion. To me, the golden rule is still the best behavioral guide we have, at least for those members of society that generally want to try to do the right thing. A truly evil or anti-social person will ignore all rules in any case, and must be handled differently. But clearly, applying the golden rule in your dealings with others is always the best first approach. The bible, in its attempt to "put form and structure to concepts of good and evil" is full of other "rules" and "commandments" regarding the behavior of members of society. Generally, the application of the golden rule would make these other rules unnecessary, except that the bible frequently prescribes the punishment (like being stoned to death) for not obeying specific rules. Each society has ended up making their own rules regarding punishment, so I don’t think we need the bible for that! Most notable of the biblical rules are the "ten commandments" (as found in Exodus 20:1-21 and Deuteronomy 5:1 to 6:3) which the rabid religious right would like to have displayed on all public buildings. Unfortunately the first four ‘‘commandments’’ have nothing to do with general societal behavior and simply have meaning for those that are trying to promote a particular religion. The fourth commandment, for instance, requires you to "keep the sabbath". Later on in the bible (Exodus 35:2) we learn that for working on the sabbath you shall be put to death! Why should society in general be forced to be exposed to the promotion of a particular religion? Especially one that preaches that it is a sin to question the beliefs of that religion and denies the possibility of any other belief having any validity. As for the last six commandments, the simple application of the golden rule renders them unnecessary. In spite of that, because of the great public exposure of such people as "Dr. Laura" Schlessinger, the radio arbiter of her particular version of all rights and wrongs, the ten commandments are getting more exposure now than at any time since Moses came down from Mount Sinai. In my opinion, if anything of the nature of rules and commandments were to be displayed on public buildings, it should be the golden rule and certainly not the ten commandments. Of course nothing is perfect and we can analyze the golden rule to death and show that in certain situations it simply will not work, but that doesn’t mean that it should be abandoned. ("Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.") It is still the best thing we have, but we should be able to use it considering the intent and not just the literal wording. The intent is to protect society and promote cooperation. And usually kindness is repaid with kindness. But we don’t have to follow it literally where we know we are dealing with others that do not cooperate. When I was a child, and would hear what went on in local courts, it was always stated that it was the intent of the law, and not the letter of the law, that was important. Judges were expected to, and did, make rulings considering the intent of the law. One intent of the law was that bad deeds should be punished, even if, on some technicality, the law was worded so that a criminal might be allowed to go free. Judges were expected to make a just finding, regardless. Somehow, over the years since then, the letter of the law has become the only deciding factor. Common sense gets ignored because the Great God "Law" is all important and takes precedence, even though it was created by man. Proven criminals get off scott-free because the law was poorly written. Other completely innocent people get sent to prison or have their life savings taken away because of bad laws. If you happen to own a building where, without your knowledge, someone has a little marijuana, the government can take your building away from you! This is crazy and subverts the basic intent of all laws. If the system does not provide intended results, then it should be abandoned or drastically altered. The intent, once again, should be given priority. It is impossible to write laws which anticipate all possibilities and which, when taken literally, do not cause some injustice. Fewer and more general laws, considering the general intent, would be better than the voluminous mess we now have. |
