This is the Archimedian oath which I stumbled upon while working on my bachelor's thesis at Metropolia. I think it's a terrific and much-needed concept that every technical university should give it's graduates the possibility to swear.
We can try and coerce corporations into behaving ethically through policy, but ultimately it's a lost cause because corporations are machines and machines are amoral by nature.
Most people on the other hand, are not. The questions of right or wrong are at the very center of our existence. Without them we couldn't have trust and thus no community and thus also no civilization.
Furthermore, technology corporations are global, while policy is always local or regional. Oaths on the other hand are universal. It is one thing to ask someone to do something potentially unethical, it is an entirely other to ask them to break their oath.
I commit
to keeping completely, to the full extent of my capacities and judgment, the following promises:
- I shall use my knowledge for the benefit of mankind.
- I shall not put my skill to the service of people who do not respect human rights.
- I shall not permit consideration regarding religion, nationality, race, sex, wealth and politics to harm people affected by my actions.
- I shall bear the entire responsibility for my actions and shall in no way discharge them on another.
- I shall practise in respect for the environment.
- I shall not use my knowledge for destructive purposes.
- I shall practise my profession in complete intellectual honesty, with conscience and dignity.