The Machine, IFToMM and Ethics

Abstract

In the present paper I argue that the exponential growth of technology has led to a situation in which mechanical engineers inevitably will have to address ethical questions. Henry Kissinger called artificial intelligence a potentially dominating technology that urgently needs a guiding philosophy. It is my opinion that it is the 18th century philosophy of the Enlightenment that can still help us out. The ethical issues concern not only the UN’s sustainable development goals but all other ethical aspects of modern mechanical engineering design as well. I argue that it is desirable that IFToMM (the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science) explicitly adopts this view.