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Ethics: Are we misusing the terms "master-slave". Do we even have a community / forum in which we can discuss this?

Philip Oakley
The recent world wide considerations of the diversity challenges in our society has highlighted that we in Engineering can be perpetuating some of the derogatory terms implicit within our use of "Master-Slave" for purely inanimate technical control scenarios. [1 - N]


We have policies on slavery that every volunteer, staff member and Trustee must read and abide to, but it appears we haven't noticed, to any significant extent, our own continued use of "slave" in our writings.


Do we even have a community or forum in which we can discuss this ethical, and publishing issue?


Philip Oakley

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53273923

[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3243656.stm

[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53050955

[4 ] http://www.jstor.com/stable/40061475   "Broken Metaphor: The Master-Slave Analogy in Technical Literature"

[5] https://www.theiet.org/involved/volunteering-for-the-iet/volunteer-hub/our-policies/anti-slavery-policy/


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    " Master-Slave when used in an engineering context" was deliberately created to refer to slavery (see my ref [4], also available via ResearchGate). At the time (1900's) there was a lot of indifference to the offence that was out there. Word choice is an important part of Engineering and scientific writing, so it is quite reasonable to consider the offence that we give.


    The recent book you mention about 'The Long March Through The Institutions' does appear to be one of those 'only for educational purposes' style pieces (YouTube interview, 26 June 2020) pointing at others (look squirrels) while seeking the same for themselves.


    We do need to look at our society and ask "is this what we really want?", along with a few why's and how's to see who has fallen through cracks, or are held below the grate. Simple Ethics.
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    " Master-Slave when used in an engineering context" was deliberately created to refer to slavery (see my ref [4], also available via ResearchGate). At the time (1900's) there was a lot of indifference to the offence that was out there. Word choice is an important part of Engineering and scientific writing, so it is quite reasonable to consider the offence that we give.


    The recent book you mention about 'The Long March Through The Institutions' does appear to be one of those 'only for educational purposes' style pieces (YouTube interview, 26 June 2020) pointing at others (look squirrels) while seeking the same for themselves.


    We do need to look at our society and ask "is this what we really want?", along with a few why's and how's to see who has fallen through cracks, or are held below the grate. Simple Ethics.
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