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A comment on Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-Entering Spacecraft. Parent comment

Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by igravious on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @10:49AM (#2071296)
That may be true in the US but what about in other jurisdictions? I mean doctor's have the Hippocrates oath of do no harm to the patient but (and not to come over all tree-hugging peacenik like) why do chemists/bioengineers/physicists not have a similar oath with respect to the our species or other species in general or the planet in its entirety? But I guess the scientists do the theorizing and the engineers and coders build weaponize or apply the theoretical results in military applications so what good would it do ... Hmm, maybe the New Year is making me come over all compassionate and fuzzy :)
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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by sp332 on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @12:18PM (#2071590)
In Canada, there is a Ritual Calling of the Engineer, which has an "Obligation" which is not exactly an oath. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ritual_of_the_Calling_of_an... I'll paste the text here if I can find it.
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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by rbanffy on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @09:22PM (#2073611)
It's a beautiful tradition. On my graduation all soon-to-be engineer colleagues also made a solemn promise more or less like the ones other engineers take in other countries and schools.

I also like the idea of passing the iron rings down through generations of new engineers. In Brazil we don't. It reminds the ones new to the career that others came before them and that others will come after them and of the obligations we share. That's one thing many of us forget much too frequently.

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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by sp332 on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @09:51PM (#2073677)
In Canada, I've heard it's more "traditional" to let the newer engineers wear shinier rings, so the more experienced ones have tarnished rings. One of the older engineers lost his in some machinery and had to get a new one. He hated it, said it made him feel like a n00b :-)
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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by cllabs on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @09:53PM (#2073686)
I found it very interesting that joining any of the Australian Professional societies (Engineers Australia, Australian Computer Society) as a Software Engineer we have to agree to a set of bye-laws and a code of ethics with fairly harsh internal penalties.

Personally I think it's a brilliant idea and wish that more professions adopt a similar thinking (I don't know of any that do but then again I haven't looked very hard).

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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by bdonlan on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @11:49AM (#2071488)
Other jurisdictions can certainly make similar exceptions for themselves.
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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by rbanffy on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @09:09PM (#2073567)
> That may be true in the US but what about in other jurisdictions?

I think that could be "the rule of the bigger gun". It's hard to argue with the guy who drives a tank across your lawn.

And preventing military use is a bad idea. The military are not always in offensive roles. And they are not automatically wrong when they use the force.

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Re:Russian Physicists Solve Radio Black-Out Problem for Re-E... by pavel_lishin on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @12:35PM (#2071647)
Would this be an oath to not implement technology in offensive ways?
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