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Where are the ethics in design ethics?
There are so many blog posts, think pieces, tweets and conference or meet up talks popping up about “design ethics”. Many of them are great, but most of them aren’t actually about ethics at all. They are more “how not to be evil” guides which, while absolutely necessary, is not what ethics are.
One of the only places we are beginning to see actual ethics come into things is in thought experiments where self driving cars are facing the trolley problem.
You’re just being pedantic
Semantic bleaching happens I hear you saying (well, probably not, but it helps the narrative along so let’s pretend). Semantic bleaching is where the meaning of a word is weakened or altered over time based on its popular use.
But by definition ethics, at the most fundamental level, is enquiry into what is right or wrong. Ethics are meant to guide judgements — they are not black and white determinations. Philosophy is about questioning things that you take for granted.
