Ethical Engineering

In my field of study, the letters E and H denote electric and magnetic fields. They may as well denote "Ethicist" and "Hypocrite"

Tidying the lab recently, I came across a forgotten booklet, “Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse”, published by an organisation called Electronics and Computing for Peace. Watch the film Goldeneye and you'll know of NEMP: a burst of electromagnetic energy following a nuclear explosion, that can wipe out communications, computers, power supplies and more, enough to halt a modern, technology-dependent society.

The booklet intrigued me, not only because it was relevant to my work, but because I'd never heard of Electronics and Computing for Peace, “a network of people, working principally in the electronics and computing industry, who are concerned about the implications of their profession”. A quick google told me that they'd since joined with Scientists for Global Responsibility (www.sgr.org.uk). I'm now in two minds as to whether I should join SGR, or whether I can actually sign up to their aims.

When I started studying electronics, I thought my studies had, frankly, naff-all to do with my faith. Sure, science was a discipline relevant to Christianity – just ask Richard Dawkins. Politics students, again, had a relevant discipline – read the prophets to see God's interest in politics. That artists could use their gifts for God's work, I had little doubt – my local cathedral was one two century arts project for God's glory. But electronics, how could I link that with my faith? Surely there's no spiritual element to a DVD player?

Oh how things have changed. Applying for jobs, I agonised over which applications to submit and which companies to ignore. I had the chance to work with endless different weapons manufacturers, car designers, oil diggers; my moral resolve was sorely tested. What would I do to earn money? I'm sad to say that a couple of jobs went outside my personal ethical guidelines, and I'd probably have taken them anyway, had I been accepted. I can only thank God that he steered me away from those areas.

I'm now back in academia, but there's no escape. My PhD subject is to do with aviation, hardly an uncontentious environmental issue. I'm happy where I am, but the question has to be asked: how much responsibility does an engineer bear for the misuse of his product by mass consumers? What about any unintended side effects of an engineer's products, both good and ill; how much responsibility can be laid at his door? It's not even as simple as deciding which areas are wrong, and avoiding them. As a friend once asked, why should we focus on the negative areas of a company's work? Accountancy (for example) isn't inherently bad work and and a firm may be very socially responsible, but if it's good at what it does, the may reasonably be hired by the military. What should the ethical Christian accountant do at this point? Where do you draw the line?

Far from my 18 year old self's inability to find a link between my subject and my faith, I've now found that my discipline is littered with ethical minefields. My degree's given me the power to shape God's world, and if I'm to live as part of his kingdom, I have a heady responsibility to use that power wisely. I've also learned that there's simply no part of life to which God's dominion doesn't stretch. Even if you see your job as morally neutral, God asks you to carry out your work honestly and diligently – just ask Zacchaeus the tax collector. There's no such thing as a truly secular workplace, God's always there and your actions always matter to him.

You may have started uni to improve your job chances, but your time as a student will also change who you are on the inside. By the time you graduate you'll be a different person, the question is whether that person will be pleasing to God? After all, "what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?" (Mark 8:36) Have a fantastic time at uni, just don't make the mistake that I did. Don't be fooled into thinking that your studies are a moral vacuum, or that God has nothing to say about them.