You are an expertsecurity software programmer who works in top secret for the nationalgovernment of the country of Zulu. Late one afternoon, you come acrossan ominous email in which you learn that a small group of sinistergovernment officials from Zulu plan – in exactly one hour – to unleash anuclear attack on the neighboring country of Delta. It happens thatthis very same group of officials is at odds with the neighboringcountry because of vastly different political and economic views. Thebottom line? You are aware that if this missile is launched, the eventwill spawn World War III. Because you are the only person in the country of Zulu who hasknowledge of the specific program code that will be used to trigger thisdevastating missile launch, you alone are the one individual who hasthe capacity to de-program the event — i.e., you could choose to cancelthe launch altogether, or you could otherwise divert the nuclearmissile to a neutral zone. In short, millions of innocent lives are nowin your hands. However, you adhere strictly to duty ethics (referred to as a“deontologist”). On the day that you assumed your role as a top-secretnational security programmer, you took a solemn oath swearing that youwould never intervene in any government action, no matter itsconsequences. In short, your duty is limited to software programming –and to programming alone. Indeed, your oath entails that you have anexplicit duty never to make a decision that extends beyond your softwareprogramming role. Moreover, you are sworn never to discuss yourprograms with any other human being – except for communication that maybe required with a limited number of superiors. On any given day, thesefew superiors of yours are easily found somewhere in the building. Butalas! On this day, you are unable to find even one superior for advice(are they perhaps bound and gagged somewhere in this massivebuilding?). Week 1:What would a strict deontologist do? Why? To whom or to what is your duty? This is not an easy question…but it is also what makes duty ethics so much fun! Week 2:What would Immanuel Kant’s “Categorical Imperative” suggest you do here? In this situation, would duty ethics be at odds with the thinking of Immanuel Kant? Explain.
