Writing 00

My decision making process is rooted in consequentialism. Growing up, my father would remind me constantly to think of the consequences of my actions, both good and bad. I am still fully learning that lesson, but strive to understand the potential impacts of my actions on myself and the word around me. This mindset bleeds into my understanding of talent. I see talent as human potential. It is something to be nurtured and strengthened. Talent is the ability of a person to affect the world around them using a particular ability or skill. The consequences of honing and developing a talent cannot be overstated, as talented individuals can change the world. The consequences of ignoring one’s talents are less immediately apparent. This is where the danger lies, the loss of human potential in underdeveloped talent is impossible to quantify and often easy to ignore.

               Raw talent must be refined. For Computer Scientists, this means an understanding of when and where to apply our skills. Ethics provides the framework for those decisions. While I lean consequentialist in my own thought process, it is helpful to understand that ethical implications are a spectrum and not a single line of right and wrong. Making decisions within that spectrum is its own skill that can only be truly honed through experience in that space. I am in Ethics and Professional Issues fully aware that this is one of the few classroom opportunities to explore this space as it relates to my classes. I hope that conversations in this class will help me to better weigh decisions outside of the classroom and in the professional space.

               Soon the world will be faced with a plethora of new ethical dilemmas, most emerging from the tech space. These questions will not be easy, but will have an untold impact on future generations. How much reliance should we place on technology? Who is responsible for failures in that same technology? How does the role of humanity change if automation becomes the norm? How do we keep the failings of humanity from tainting the technology that should be free from our shortcomings? Questions like these will have complicated and varied answers, but they will begin to be answered by my generation and the next. Now is not the time to shy away from investigating the consequences, but rather the time to research and understand the implications of our actions.

                Here at Notre Dame I have developed the ability to learn within Computer Science. I am confident in my ability to discover through code and wrap my brain around theory. These new talents have elevated my human potential and placed a burden upon me. I now cannot ignore the above questions, but rather I must engage with them and the community attempting to change the world in order to ensure we leave the world better than we found it. This is the danger of knowledge. Knowledge does not exist for its own sake, but for the sake of others. I have been entrusted with knowledge, and now have the power implied by that knowledge. I hope to use it well.