Analysis of the Financial Assurance Plan in the License Application for a Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility

Our purpose is to evaluate the efficiency of the financial assurance plan in the license application\u27 submitted by American Ecology Corporation (AEC) to site, design, and build a new technological facility in Boyd County, Nebraska, for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW). Efficiency means the ability to accomplish desired effects. Thus, efficiency considerations begin with social beliefs and ethics in order to know what is desirable. Ethics can be considered a system of guidance designed to assist in living within a society. . . . That we must live together installs the positive requirement of doing good for one another (Anderson and Englehardt 2001, 6-7). Humans in a social system are immersed in obligation to one another (8). Ethics seeks to resolve the problems of what is harm and what is help and to unravel the complexities of moral choice (9). In a socioeconomic system, choices and decisions are about organizational actions. Action is behavior under the governance of some larger understanding . . . (9)

Algorithms: What, How, and Particularly Why?

In May 2019 the LSE launched its future strategy LSE 2030, with the following opening statement: “Our strategy lays out the guiding principles and commitments that will help us shape the world’s future…” That is what a good teacher tells their students: that they not only are the future, but that they have the capacity and responsibility to shape the future. In the context of Big Data Ethics this is aptly phrased by Richards & King: “We are building a new digital society, and the values we build or fail to build into our new digital structures will define us.” Algorithms are an integral part of our digital society. The ever growing availability of data in combination with incredible computing power led to today’s success of algorithms. There is, however, also reason for cautiousness and concern. To mention just a few threats:• Decisions based on algorithms and profiles without the one who decides being able to provide an adequate explanation. For instance, people do not get a loan because the algorithm decided so based on the data related to the applicant. Or, parents are visited by social workers because the algorithm determined there is a risk of school drop out of their kids;• The use of biometric data which indelibly connects the individual to their data profiles such as the use of facial recognition software to connect physical appearance to online information;• Mass surveillance by both government and business.Given what algorithms can and might do, we as a society in general, and lawyers in particular, have a responsibility to decide how we want to shape the world we live in. What algorithms we do allow and what not, and in case we allow algorithms, under what conditions

Conversation, Design and Ethics: The Cybernetics of Ranulph Glanville

One of the major themes of Ranulph Glanville’s work has been the intimate connection between cybernetics and design, the two principle disciplines that he has worked in and contributed to. In this paper I review the significance of the analogy that he proposes between the two and its connection to his concerns with, firstly, the cybernetic practice of cybernetics and, secondly, the relation between cybernetics and ethics. I propose that by putting the cybernetics-design analogy together with the idea that in cybernetics epistemological and ethical questions coincide, we can understand design as not just a form ofcybernetic practice but also one in which ethical questions are implicit

The Laws of Agency Lawyering

The great variety of agency rules governing lawyers raises interesting questions that are worth exploring. This Article begins that exploration. Part I lays the groundwork by briefly examining how the ABA Model Rules treat regulatory lawyering to raise the question of what regulatory gaps the agency rules might be expected to fill. Part II sets forth several possible theories of agency rule variation. Part III compares agency rules along a number of dimensions, examines some similarities and differences across agencies as well as between the agency rules and the Model Rules, and offers speculations about what may be driving the differences that exist

Communication and Ethical Behavior in the Public Service

Setting up public administration which operates effectively and taking over responsibilities, both crucial on the point of view of the democracy indicators, requires great effort from all social stake holders in setting up and maintaining a public service organization. This notion implies the setting in function of the instruments and procedures that prevent undesirable behavior and provide encouragement of good behavior among operators of those services. While doing this, communication as a main component of the public service, calls for structure and control. Ethics or standards of behavior in the public sector are important political and public issues for every country, which is always held as a fundamental prerequisite for “good behavior” (good governance). The Code of ethics by which are expressed the values and standards in the civil service is one of the ethical elements of infrastructure. It enhances the function of orientation (giving instructions for action and behavior), and aims: respect for the law, respect for individuals, personal and professional integrity and efficiency in managing public resources, reinforcing the role and importance that the communication strategies and tools have. Professional association helps to develop judgment and of the necessary skills to enable white collar workers to apply communication strategy and tools and ethical principles in real circumstances. Objective progress can help create an environment where the white collar workers are willing to face and resolve communication problems and ethical disputes, they can even develop essential skills for effective communication and ethical analysis. The mechanisms of awareness about mission and processes of the public service, orientation and internal consulting in the civil service should be available to help white collar workers to apply basic communication and ethical standards in the workplace. Improvements in the legal framework is necessary for the proper functioning of public service, namely: to gain and maintain public confidence

The ethics of ethics and the ethics of architecture

In designing architecture we put forward ways in which to live, enabling particular patterns of living while limiting other possibilities. In this sense architecture has a normative function and can be compared to the way that ethical theories and moral codes purport to guide us on how to live. Given this, I suggest that ethical reflection about how we design—and in particular about how we constitute the relationship between designers and those they design for—can be used to help formulate ethical questions regarding how we speak and reason about ethics itself. Recognising Heinz von Foerster’s criticisms of moral codes as an instance of this, I use the example of designing architecture to challenge and extend von Foerster’s position, suggesting the recursive application of ethics to its own discourse

Transparency of Government and War Against Corruption

[extract] The transparency of government activities is one of the most effective tools in preventing and combating corruption. Various events in different parts of the globe, indicate the need for effective measures in order to control and make transparent the services provided by the Government. Some places, like Italy, for example, had the best success in the fight against corruption, using legal measures. In Brazil, due to its lack of transparency, by means of various clandestine relations between governmental and private institutions, generated several illicit activities and a corrupt system that never had seen before. Therefore, it is clear that the actions of all sectors of the Government must be more transparent and visible, not only to satisfy the population, but also to prevent malfeasance and reprehensible conducts