In the post, some Mathematical societies have discussed ethical issues and disseminated their own codes of conduct to address specific ethical concern encountered by research mathematicians, such as those arising during publication. While ethical and behavioral issues specifies to well-defined mathematical arises of course still relevant, the lost two decades have yielded many ethical concerns that now affect all mathematicians in some way. Establishing these issues for more than two years at the University of Cambridge realization come up that mathematicians can assume several different level of ethical engagement. Ethics in mathematics is not a binary process.
As the oldest consistently used scientific tool in western thinking, mathematics carries perhaps the greatest scientific extra ordinary powerful instrument ubiquitous to all of source and technology behind smart phones, airplane flights or model of global crime dynamics but the applications and therefore ethics of mathematics goes well and beyond. Modern mathematics is the heart of economics and finance, and excessive trust in mathematical model contributed to the 2007 financial crises. Even the most or dent persist in number theory or algebra can no longer claim to “just do the mathematics” and “leave the implications to ethicist”, as recent revelations about global mass surveillance have underscored their work’s immediate social and political impact.
Just as physicist had to recognize the enormous ethical implications of their work after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945, socially responsible mathematical practice, which of journal submission are real concerns, but hardly to sum order as thus ethical matter.
Majority of mathematics student both pure and applied, end up working in roles where they are using their mathematical skills in a manner that can and does have ethical consequences. There are many examples of this, in sector ranging from finance (the construction of very sophisticated, complex and potentially toxic financial products) to government surveillance, to data science and information technology (the growing influence and impact of large scale, complex, automated networks on the algorithm that operate on them) to classical engineering disciplines (the mathematical modeling behind many industries in the hydrocarbon extraction and processing sectors). This in turn, result in capable and trained individuals entering industry, government and policy section without any training or taught sensitivity to the ethical tools that enables them to affectively appreciate and grasp the moral consequences of their actions. Indeed the very nature of a pure mathematics education can exacerbate this imbalance. Abstract pure mathematics course are often taught by individuals with little or no experience working or engaging with structure outside academic, thus preventing broader context from manifesting even by osmosis.
Every organizations develops an internal culture and this internal culture determines how those working there behaves, what they become aware of; it is very easy for young people who have no prior ethical training to simply imbibe the ethical prospective of their first four employees. The frontier pace of work in modern industry often does not allow these working in it the time to over consider issues that are outside their immediate preview. It is therefore important that individuals who will engage in theoretical work gain some exposure to the norm in which horn can arise as a byproduct of their work during their education, as they may permit them to develop skill required to instinctively date ethical issues in their later life; this is important especially for those who technical training has been at a very abstract law in subject such as mathematics.
Through observation and case studies, mathematicians can demonstrate what we term “the four levels of ethical engagement”
The first level is the fundamental understanding that the practice of mathematics is not ethics free and that ethical issues can surface in any mathematical work. One always performs mathematics in social and political context, never in value free isolation. Thus, all mathematicians must think about their individual responsibility as ethical issues may engage at anytime. This diligence can be as simple as considering environmental impact rather than immediate or distinct consequences that generally manifest as good, sometimes as not entirely good and occasionally as downright bad. On this individualistic level, mathematicians modify and adopt their own ethical acts, talking the important first step toward a mere robust ethical awareness.
The second of those four levels involves mathematicians spelling out 10 other mathematicians raising awareness of ethical issues among their peers. Individual mathematicians may recognize ethical issues in the mathematical work of others and try to inform them. They might precipitate unified action among their colleagues and locally bring about a collective ethical awareness and approach or they might write an article about other of their community.
The third level is more complex. It teaches mathematicians how to take a seat of the table of power. Mathematicians often need to learn the specific skills required to work with politicians, co-operate management, and other non-scientists. These include engaging in policy of discussion, establishing and rationalizing their mathematical works’ objections and communicating potential limitations and possibly draw many mathematicians in advancing industry careers were they unexpectedly find them in position that requires these abilities. Mathematics is becoming an increasingly powerful social tool and seeing its creator in hiding behind formulae and retrospectively apologizing is not appropriate.
Lastly, it’s the responsibility of mathematicians to call out of the bad mathematics of others by proactively seeking out, learning about and acting upon instances where mathematics has “gone wrong” possibly in unrelated organization. However, bad mathematics occurs in two distinct forms, first it can refer to the practice of claiming result that is not mathematically true. Bad mathematics can also refer to trained mathematicians giving it excessive authority or directing it in ways that caused harm and exploit others.
Members of any profession have the responsibility to hold their own work and the work of their colleagues to high standard. Like statisticians, engineers, doctors and mathematicians must adopt their own form of professional stranded in academics, industry and over all, society. Some mathematicians are already questioning the validity and forms of various decisions making algorithm or identifying the potential harms of artificial intelligence, bringing dangers into public conscious and proposing workable solution.
