This is one of those very strange articles that makes one happy, just by its very existence.

The article opens with a general statement that, most unfortunately, is not obvious to many (perhaps most) people:

Computer science faculty have a responsibility to teach students to recognize both the larger ethical issues and particular responsibilities that are part and parcel of their work as technologists.

Let me place this statement in a slightly personal perspective. I have been in computing now for somewhat over 50 years. I have seen dead people as a result of irresponsible computer professionalism. Ethical training is no less important than the training in any other critical, basic scientific discipline. Hopefully, “dead people” gets the reader’s attention.

Therefore, any direction or system to enhance ethical conduct is very important. A “creative approach,” as these authors call it, is wonderful. As we are all aware, “there is a temptation to teach solely through the transmitting of facts, rather than encouraging discussion and dissent.” In the many years that I taught, I always told my students that my job was to seize them by the ears and pull; they could read a textbook or slides by themselves and there is no need for me to read them for them. The best mind-expanding process is “discussion and dissent” to allow students to chew on real problems; this is because reality is always more complex than classroom examples, and much more random--the real meaning of random is surprises. It is the surprises in engineering that bring ethical issues to the fore.

In this review, I intentionally take no sides with respect to the use of science fiction (SF) or other types of stories to represent a specific or general ethical issue. In my course, I used other story types. I think the point of this article, and its great value, lies not in SF per se, but in the authors’ superb descriptions of the problems involved and their approaches to how these were addressed (“addressed,” not solved).

I strongly recommend this article. I think it should be required reading for all computer professionals, management, researchers, teachers, and so on.