Questions we Can Help you to Answer
Paper Instructions:
The best professional ethic is a proactive, preventative one. The ideal is to anticipate and solve problems before they occur. This kind of forward looking problem solving can be complex. It requires a thorough understanding of the situation or technology under consideration as well as a sophisticated view of the potential positive and negative consequences of the situation/technology. All technology, even the most beneficially intended, has negative consequences.
In the Social Impact Analysis (SIA) capstone paper assignment, you are given the opportunity to develop some of these forward looking skills as you analyze a leading edge design, product or concept (DPC) related to your field of study. You will be given latitude in your choice of topic (it will need to be approved). You are required to conduct the relevant, literature research necessary to understand the positive and negative implications of the design/product/concept. You are expected to consider the most credible arguments for and against your chosen topic. Finally, you will need to develop a well-reasoned position on the topic. You will need to explain why we should or should not deploy the design/product/concept you are analyzing. In developing your position, you will need to anticipate and respond to the most forceful objections to it. Keep in mind that any given technology can and often does have psychological, financial, and social impacts over and above its immediate physical impacts.
While the Social Impact Analysis term paper expresses opinions on an ethical issue, invoking the phrase "in my opinion" as a preface to a statement is not sufficient to express a valid opinion. Valid opinions are supported by literature research, well-reasoned logic and provable facts. Otherwise these statements of opinion are just expressions of your beliefs. An opinion is "valid" if and only if it is supported by relevant facts and well-reasoned logic. The problem with unsupported opinions is that many are based on misconceptions. The fact that many others may hold the same opinion does not make it a valid opinion.
You are asked to synthesize the insights you have been developing throughout this course. Specifically, you will be asked to apply one or more of the ethical theories we have discussed in this course. Additionally, you may choose to apply, in detail, the relevant canons from your discipline’s code of ethics. and insights developed from examining contemporary ethical challenges. The SIA Term Paper is the capstone assignment in this course.
Social Impact Analysis
Capstone Paper Proposal
Background:
In your Social Impact Analysis (SIA) Capstone Paper, you are asked to analyze a contemporary or leading-edge design, product, or concept (DPC). The best approach is to choose a DPC that has not yet been fully deployed and analyze its potential positive and negative social impacts. These include not only physical impacts (e.g. human health) but psychological, social, cultural, environmental, and financial impacts as well. The analysis entails looking forward and trying to make a well-reasoned case for or against the DPC in question.
You are allowed a fair amount of flexibility with respect to the topic you choose. It should be relevant to your discipline and feature a contemporary DPC which can include novel applications of well-established technologies.
Your topic proposal should be 300-500 words long and include a brief description of the DPC you have chosen along with a statement about why this topic is important and relevant to engineering ethics. It is not necessary to include references.
Instructions:
Submit your 300-500 word proposal using the SIA Capstone Paper Proposal link below as either a Word document
These were topics of previous papers that earned grades of 95-100.
You are free to use any of these for your paper topic if you choose to do so.
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3D Printing Technology Applied to Building Construction
Academic Fraud in Engineering and Scientific Publications
Artificial Intelligence for Supply Chain Management
Autonomous (Self-Driving) Vehicles
Backdoor Government Access to Encrypted Communications and Devices
Bioengineered Tissue and Organs
Carbon Sequestration for Coal Fired Electrical Power Plants
Choosing the Best Technologies to Cheat
Customer Owner Solar Technology Attached to Electrical Grids
Deep Ocean Drilling
Designer Drug Technology
Digital Currencies: Bit Coins
Earth Quake Resistant Buildings
Electric Vehicle Technology
Ethical Hacking
Ethics of a Manned Mars Expedition
Ethics of Alternative Energy
Ethics of Armed Autonomous Military Robots and Drones
Ethics of Automating Highly Skilled, High Paying Jobs
Ethics of Face Recognition Technology
Ethics of the Dark Internet
Genetically Engineered Crops
Google’s World Wide Internet Access
Green Concrete
High Tech Farming
Hydraulic Fracking Using Fluids Other Than Water
Legal Liability of Self-Driving Vehicles
Low Energy Salt Water Desalination
Nanotechnology Health Care
Self-Healing Concrete
Self-Healing Materials for Aircraft Construction
Small Footprint Nuclear Power Plants
Smart Electrical Grids
Solar Highway Technology
Wearable Technology: Google Glass
