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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/


Aside: Is there some tick box to get notifications of replies sent?
  • 0
    Lordy! Lordy! This covid thing is addling people's brains - all this diversity nonsense is just indoctrination from those on the left.

    Professional third party offence takers being paid vast sums - I'm in the wrong job - how offended do you wish me to be? Is the pay related to the percentage or frequency of the times I can take offence? I could be offended 100% of the time if it pays well enough.


    I am surprised that any sensible independent critical thinker would take such nonsense so seriously that whole committees would be set up to examine the subject! Just think of all that mental effort being misdirected into nonsense like this when it could be redirected to solving real world problems instead.
  • 0
    whjohnson:

    Lordy! Lordy! This covid thing is addling people's brains - all this diversity nonsense is just indoctrination from those on the left.


    As an official spokesman for "the left", I think this is nonsense too, banning the word does nothing to help those past or present who suffer under slavery. I would add that slavery itself is of the "right", certainly not "the left".


  • 0
    > solving real world problems


    Perhaps you haven't noticed how these 'real world problems' continue to be propped up by indifference and misdirection?  First steps need to be taken, ground needs to be firmed up, it's no good pointing to the other bank if we aren't building the bridge to reach those "real world problems" to which you are gesticulating.


    Other areas are making changes, e.g. SAP https://searchsap.techtarget.com/news/252488768/SAP-sets-alternatives-to-master-slave-blacklist-whitelist

  • 0
    Alex Barrett:

    ...banning the word does nothing to help those past or present who suffer under slavery. 




    Alex,


    I am with you on this. There is absolutely no point in banning the word as we would just need to come up with another word to describe the concept. If I write about Roman society in the time of their empire I can't avoid using the words 'Slave' and 'Slavery', as that is the way society was then.


    Similarly if we have a master-slave technical scenario I admit we could change the name (to perhaps leader-follower) but why should people be upset by that any more than by reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire?


  • 0
    This professional offence-seeking witch-hunt is absurd in all of its forms. Master-Slave when used in an engineering context is not offensive unless you go out of your way to find it so, and there of plenty of well-paid (some might say overpaid) idle minds around to do that it seems.

    How far down the road do we go with this?


    "See that black wire.........." Oops! We need to rename it to a BAME wire, same for that yellow wire too, just in case, mustn't offend must we?

    Can no one else out there see that the Emperor really is naked?

    I would suggest that you look up 'The Long March Through The Institutions' in order to understand what is really driving this nonsense.

    It is a free pdf download and is an eye-opening read.

    Intersectionality, if left unchecked, will destroy our society as we know it.

  • 0
    Hi all! While this topic certainly seems to have raised some strength of feeling please remember to keep the discussion professional and respect other people's opinions, even (especially!) if they are different to your own. 


    The IET community is here for friendly debate and discussion. If you can't keep it clean and inclusive please just move along to another, less inflammatory topic.
  • 0
    I've learnt some new words, "Intersectionality" for one ?
  • 0
    Pleased to hear it, now go and understand what it means, what is driving it, and what the disastrous outcome is.

    If I have 'offended' anyone I apologise because it now seems that I have to be careful what I say now - I have been censured via email for utilizing a right which was fomerly known in this country as free speech.

    It would appear that some oversensitive soul has been upset by my previous post and has gone running to the mods to complain about it.

    I gather that the threat of no-platforming is a favoured tactic when a nerve of truth is touched. Shame about that but we are where we are.


    Back to socially re-engineering society - what are people's views on equality? namely, equality of opportunity and equality of outcome regardless of actual ability/gender/race/religious faith?




  • 0
    whjohnson:

    Pleased to hear it, now go and understand what it means, what is driving it, and what the disastrous outcome is.

     


    No thanks, Google told me enough.


  • 0
    " 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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