2. Moral Responsibility

The four conditions:

• Cognitive
  • Do they possess the “intelligence” to be responsible (a 5 year old)
• Epistemic
  • Did/Could they know their act could cause problems
• Voluntariness
  • Were they coerced or unconscious during the act
• Casual
  • They are only responsible if their actions actually affected the outcome

Types of responsibility?

• Out of control
• Accident
• Recklessness
• Negligence
• Wilful Negligence
• Wilfulness
• Strict Liability
• Shared Action
• Collective Action

Case Study THERAC-25

The Therac-25 was an X-ray system. Between 1985 and 1987 it caused 3 deaths and several injuries due to radiation burns. Unlike previous models, this used a software based safety mechanism.
The problems:

• The system was inadequately safety tested
  • The original analysis exaggerated the safety
• The error messages were repeats of common error messages from previous systems, which were not as urgent and therefore ignored
• Some X-ray technicians ignored the complaints of patients, trusting the machine.

Responsibility in Computing

It is hard to assign responsibility in cases involving computers due to;

1. Many ‘hands’ being involved
2. The concept of bugs
3. Blaming the computer
4. Ownership without liability
5. Seeing technology as ethically neutral

Nissenbaum and Gotterbarn advocate for a more positive notion of responsibility and accountability

• a.k.a. finding who isn’t responsible :/