Vidic 2:00 R07 Ethical Dilemmas in Aerospace Engineering: Is Every Lie Wrong? Alyssa Kostka (ark105@pitt.edu) ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR It started off just like any other day; I woke up early and headed off to work. As most days, I was very excited to be going to the lab of my dream job as a Chemical Engineer in product design. When I arrived at work, I was greeted by my fellow workers and headed back to room 217 where our daily meetings take place. Today, we were collaborating with an Aerospace Engineering company about a new jet fuel nozzle that can withstand the new fuel made from biodiesel. I was very excited for this meeting because I had a minor in Aerospace engineering and had immense knowledge about fuel nozzles from my internship at a Lockheed Martin a few summers ago. They started discussing how we would make this new fuel nozzle and one of my coworkers suggested that we 3D print it. What a brilliant idea I thought; 3D printing is on the rise and is very cost-effective. So, that was it then; we would come up with the new design and materials needed and it would be 3D printed. A Moral Dilemma Arises This meeting was about a month ago. Our progress on the project is going very well and we should be finishing up in less than a week. Everyone in my group is giving 100% and I couldn’t be happier with how things are going. Today at work, my boss confronted me about a dilemma with the manufacturing of the fuel nozzle. He told me that we were running low on funds so we need to use less of the material than what we originally planned. The amount of material that he told us to use would get the job done, but it would not be as strong or as safe as the original. He told me to just start using less, but mark down that we are still using the original amount so our product will still pass inspection. I was very taken back by what he asked me to do. I either had to lie about the amount of material we were using, or risk our product not passing inspection and in turn giving our company a bad name. My boss thinks highly of me and trusts that I will listen to him and do what I am told, but I don’t have a good feeling about this. I was always told that lying was wrong, but if your authority figure tells you to do it and it will better the company, is it still wrong? cheap and low environmentally impactful materials make the products “greener”, and therefore more appealing to customers [1]. How does it Work? 3D printers work like 2D printers, but instead of using ink and paper, the 3D printers use a desired material and pour it in layers to create an object. An elevator moves the platform higher and lower to help lay the layers, while the vat containing the material used in the layers is releasing the required amount of material needed for each layer. A laser source positioned at the top of the printer is used to help solidify the object as you can see in Figure 1 [2]. 3D printers are able to fine-tune and make every part precisely and exactly what it needs to be to a degree never before possible [3]. They fight the obsolescence of products. 3D printers extend the life of products by repairing them after parts are damaged or worn [1]. This saves companies money because the printers can save old or damaged products instead of having to buy or make new ones. Using 3D printing to repair turbines instead of replacing them has shown a 90% reduction in repair time. When parts are being repaired, they can also be upgraded to the latest design, making 3D printing very desirable [4]. FIGURE 1 [3] Diagram of a 3D printer. FROM DESIGN TO PRODUCT 3D printers are becoming a very important part of the manufacturing industry. They make printing very intricate and hard-to-make parts easier. They are also more environmentally friendly because the printers use biodegradable plastics like polylactic acid (PLA). Using University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering 2014-09-30 Use of 3D Printers in Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Engineering deals with the research design and manufacturing technology of aircrafts and space crafts. One particular area of this engineering is designing new parts for aircrafts. Since many parts are small and precise, it is difficult to manufacture them by hand or with a controlled machine. Alyssa Kostka 3D printing makes producing these very intense parts easy. Many companies, including General Electric, are already using 3D printers to make some of the parts needed for an air craft. One part, in particular, is the jet fuel nozzles. If a company uses a 3D printer to make the fuel nozzles, they are reducing the amount of material needed and are also producing a part that will make the air crafts more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly [3]. duty to make the safest and most sound product for the people [6]. We experience, day in and day out, how concerns about safety continue to grow everywhere due to the fact that we are developing a more sensitive awareness of the huge power we are both using and deploying through the use of new technologies. This awareness should be neither deprecated nor underestimated by anybody. Following safety standards is not only good for our company, but it is good for the people. If we produce a product that does not satisfy the people, but is up to the government’s standards, we will not sell. We must live up to the standards of the people as well as the government in order to be successful [8]. As engineers, we must abide by the rules and codes set forth by our institutions. Many people believe that engineers don’t act as ethically as workers in the fields of medicine or law. We are taught differently than this. We started out in our first year of college learning about the ethics of engineering and how complicated each decision we make can be. Every choice we make affects several different things, and we must discuss these things before making our decisions [9]. AN ETHICAL DECISION The decision by my co-worker to use 3D printing in the process of making the new fuel nozzles was an excellent idea, as you can now see. 3D technology is very helpful and useful in that it can make almost any design that you upload to the printer. The design that we originally came up with was the strongest, cheapest, and therefore the most cost-effective design we could think of. When my boss said that we had to change the design to save money, we had to cut back somewhere. When you use less material, you take away from the strength of the product. This means that the product that we plan on selling will not be as perfect as we want it to be, so we are letting our customers down. Ethically, it is wrong to mislead the public. As Engineers, we must avoid deceptive acts. Even if an authority figure says that we should not be truthful in order to better the company, it is still against what the code of ethics stands for [5]. We must present the results we are given in a respectful and truthful manner. Any other presentation of information is unethical [6]. A Moral Standpoint Ever since I was a kid I was told that lying was wrong and I should be truthful in everything that I say. I understand that not telling the truth to your parents or teachers or any other authority figure is immoral, but is every lie equal? If you tell your friend that her new haircut is gorgeous even though you think that it is hideous, you would be lying, but I think that it would be the nicer thing to do. If a lie does more good than harm, it is not a bad thing. My parents tell me to think before I speak, and even though this seems like an obvious thing to do, many people skip out on it. If you think that telling a lie will help the greater good, then I don’t see it as being such a bad thing to do [10]. Sometimes telling a lie benefits more people than it harms. In a situation where you would lie to help out another person, I think that it would be ok to lie, but only to a certain extent. If you find yourself in a group project where everyone contributes, but one person, you are already in a bad situation. At the end of the project your teacher wants you to evaluate everyone’s participation in the group. You want to give the one group member a bad review, but you know that it’s the end of the semester and this bad grade would really hurt them. Ethically you must tell the truth and be fair. Giving them a review that the do not deserve is not right and therefore should not be done [11]. There was a movie made in 2009 called “The Invention of Lying”. This movie takes place in a world where everybody tells the truth and there is no such thing as lying. The main character, Mark Bellison, is having a hard time trying to pay his rent and when he goes to the bank to withdraw money he lies about how much he needed to withdraw. This was the very first lie ever told. As the movie progresses, he tells more lies and his life starts to turn around. The more lies he tells, the better his life becomes. In the end, he has to choose Following the Code I have been contemplating what I should do ever since this morning. Not only would it be wrong to make a product that doesn’t serve its purpose as well as before, but I would have to lie and say that it did. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers has a code of ethics that must be upheld and followed by all Chemical Engineers. Part of the code states that members must be honest, impartial and serve with fidelity to their employers, clients, and the public. This means that it is ethically wrong for me to mark down that the product is just as good as the original when I know for fact that it is not [6]. As engineers, it is our job to listen to what our hierarchy tells us and not to do more than what we are capable or licensed to do. I went online to try and see if I could find anything that would help me decide what to do. I found a case where a woman was told to do one thing, but noticed another problem that was not in her check list. She was advised to write up a separate report and notify her director that there was another problem. It was not her job to write up a second report, but she did it because it was ethically right of her to protect the safety and well-being of the public [7]. If I don’t mark down and let people know that we used less material in our product, I would be putting people in danger by giving them a product that is not up to par. As an engineer it is my 2 Alyssa Kostka between lying to get the girl, or telling the truth and letting her choose for herself. Mark does not lie and it pays off, for the girl does pick to be with him. This movie shows both the good and bad consequences of lying. Overall, the bad outweighs the good, but it does demonstrate that there is a good side. engineer who abides by the code of ethics, I must tell my boss that I don’t think this is the right thing to do. We could find a way to minimize cost in the marketing field of our product instead of the manufacturing process. There are numerous things that could go wrong if I go through and tell this lie. I would be letting down my parents, my coworkers, and also the general public. In the end, lying is a sin and should be avoided in almost all circumstances, especially in the workforce. Different Theories As I have stated before, I believe that if telling a lie leads to a better outcome than telling the truth, I think it is ok to lie. This is more of a consequentialist theory. They tend to ask themselves “Would telling the truth or telling a lie bring about the better consequences?” They assess the rightness or wrongness of doing something by looking at the consequences caused by that act, hence the name, consequentialists. This seems like the logical thing to do, but it takes time trying to think of the good and bad consequences of the lie they are about to tell and balance the good against the bad. This is hard because consequences are hard to predict and often differ from person to person. If I tell a certain lie to one person, they will be affected differently than if I tell it to someone else. Also, it is hard to decide what is good and what is bad. Something that I think isn’t so bad of an outcome could be very wrong in someone else’s opinion [12]. There are two types of utilitarian (consequentialist) thinkers, rule-utilitarian and act-utilitarian. A rule-utilitarian doesn’t apply their theory on a case by case basis, but use theory to come up with some general principles. They usually say that lying is bad because it causes harm to people and reduces society’s general respect for the truth. Although they do believe that here are some cases where small white lies are ok. An act-utilitarian considers every single action separately. They might say that telling a lie in a particular case leads to the best results for everyone involved and for society as a whole, so it is not morally wrong [12]. Another theory to moral thinking is deontology. Deontologists base their moral thinking on general universal laws and not on individual acts. Therefore, according to them, an act is either right or wrong, regardless of whether is produces a good or bad consequence. In other words, if I lie to a gunman about where the innocent people are, I would have done wrong because I broke the law saying that lying is wrong [12]. Lying is morally wrong in many situations. If the lie that you are telling only benefits you in the end, the lie should not be told. Every lie we tell effects many people and it would be wrong for it to only benefit you in the end [13]. REFERENCES [1] K. Kovac. (December 2013). “How Green is 3D Printing?” ECOS. (online article). http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A N&K=93614197&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH r7ESeqLY40dvuOLCmr0yep69Ssqy4SbSWxWXS&Conten tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A [2] K. Maxey. (September 2013). “A Brief History of 3D Printing.” Infographic: The History of 3D Printing. (website). http://www.engineering.com/3DPrinting/3DPrintingArticles/ ArticleID/6262/Infographic-The-History-of-3DPrinting.aspx [3] A. Buchholz. (May 2014). “3-D Printing Keeps Growing.” The Futurist. (online article). http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A N&K=95532188&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH r7ESeqLY40dvuOLCmr0yep69Ssae4S7CWxWXS&Conten tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A [4] T. Overton. (April 2014). “3D-Printed Turbine Replacement Parts Could Cut Repair Times by 90%.” Foucus on O&M. (online article). http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A N&K=95469636&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH r7ESeqLY40dvuOLCmr0yep7VSsqu4SrGWxWXS&Conten tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A [5] “NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers.” NSPE. (Online Article).http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.htm l [6] “Code of Ethics” AICHE. (online article). http://www.aiche.org/about/code-ethics [7] “Ethics Cases (Case 1010)” Texas Tech University (website). http://www.depts.ttu.edu/murdoughcenter/products/cases.ph p [8] J. Basart, M. Serra. (2013). “Engineering Ethics Beyond Engineers’ Ethics” Sci Eng Ethics. (online article). http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A N&K=85860022&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH r7ESeqLQ4zdnyOLCmr0yep7ZSs6y4SrKWxWXS&Conten tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A [9] (January 2014). “Matters of Conscience” Professional Engineering. (online article). http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=A N&K=94137659&S=R&D=aph&EbscoContent=dGJyMNH MY ETHICAL DECISION Out of all of these different theories, I seem to base my thinking on the rule-utilitarianism. I have begun to list both the good and bad consequences of my situation. The bad consequences are seeming to outweigh the good, meaning that lying and saying that our product is just as good as it was before the change in the amount of material is wrong. As an 3 Alyssa Kostka r7ESeqLQ4zdnyOLCmr0yep7dSrqu4S7OWxWXS&Conten tCustomer=dGJyMO7f8oy549%2BB7LHfi%2B4A [10] L. Kostka, J. Kostka. (2014, October 24). Interview [11] C. Wilson. (March 2013). “Picking Up the Slack” The Big Q. (website). http://www.scu.edu/r/ethicscenter/ethicsblog/thebigq/15667/Picking-Up-theSlack?utm_source=scu&utm_medium=email&utm_cam paign=1306& [12] “Lying and truth-telling” Ethics Guide. (online article). http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/lying/lying_1.shtml [13] “Pinocchio’s Nose” Webguru. (website). http://www.webguru.neu.edu/professionalism/casestudies/pinocchios-nose ADDITIONAL SOURCES R. Gervais, M. Robinson. (2009). “The Invention of Lying”. (movie). The New Jerusalem Bible. Ed. Susan Jones. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Print. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my writing instructor Ms. Ferda for helping me answer some questions about this paper. I would also like to thank my engineering analysis professor Dr. Vidic, my roommate Amanda Bartko, and my Resident Assistant Justice Achonu for giving me support and discussing issues about my paper with. 4