The Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics says that when you observe or interact with a problem in any way, you can be blamed for it. Even if you don’t make the problem worse, even if you make it slightly better, the ethical burden falls on you as soon as you observe it.
In 2010, New York randomly chose homeless applicants to participate in its Homebase program, and tracked those who were not allowed into the program as a control group.
The program was helping as many people as it could, the only change was explicitly labeling a number of people it wasn’t helping as a “control group”.
- “They should immediately stop this experiment,” said the Manhattan borough president, Scott M. ******** “The city shouldn’t be making guinea pigs out of its most vulnerable.”
Uber has introduced surge pricing – charging more when demand outstrips supply
More money means more drivers willing to make the trip, means more rides available
- Now instead of having no taxis at all, people can choose between an expensive taxi or no taxi at all – a marginal improvement
Gender inequality is a persistent, if hard to quantify, problem.
Evan Thornley: “There’s a great arbitrage there, we would give [women] more responsibility and a greater share of the rewards than they were likely to get anywhere else and that was still often relatively cheap to someone less good of a different gender.”
- While Mr. Thornley said he wasn’t advocating that the gender pay gap should be perpetuated, he said it provided “an opportunity for forward thinking people”.
- A number of online commentators, as well as Australian start-up blogs, have since said Mr Thornley’s comments were sexist.
