Dombrowski pages 152-233

Notes for Dombrowski pages 152-233

“Tobacco and Death- When is Cause not a Cause?”
-Tobacco industry act as sophists
-Sophists make the worse case seem better.
-Clear that smoking takes 10-20 years off non-smoking life expectancy

Causes
-Two reasons that death due to smoking does not outrage us as much as Challenger Disaster
-First is that we are dealing with statistical causes.
-Statistical causes say nothing about particular individual but addresses probability of what will happen in a population or group.
-Statistical cause has a longer time frame. Cause and effect related after several years.
-Challenger Disaster cause and effect were close in time.
-Second reason is that tobacco industry engaged in aggressive program of misinformation, denial, etc. that clouded the minds of the public.
-Know that heaving smoking over longer period correlate to greater incidence of disease and shorter life expectancy just like we know wearing seatbelts lowers the incidence of injury and death in car accidents.
-We do not know what genetic factors exactly make people more susceptible to cancer.
-But there is a clear connection.
-Tobacco industry acting like modern day sophists and twisting words and finding doctors to agree with them.
-Sophists emphasize that there are two sides to any matter.
-Scientists that the Tobacco Industry employed said the connection was casual and they developed distractions or downplayed focus on cancer.
-By hiring these doctors that supported their agendas, they made the public think that it was a real medical controversy over the effects of smoking when in reality there was no controversy.

Documents
-Tobacco has been under intense scrutiny. In 1997, tobacco industry ordered to pay 350 billion over a period of years.
-Tobacco industry until recent years has gotten off easily due to their large amount of funds to dedicate to lawyers while those against them don’t.
-Often claimants died from tobacco related disease before the jury was finished deliberating.
-Profitability also leads to huge tax resources to states involved, leading to support for the industry in the state legislatures.
-They avoided the first crucial judgment against them.
-Often would discuss problems in the presence of lawyers to lawyer-client privilege.
-1970s they purged and shredded a lot of files.
-1950s-Hill and Knowlton Memorandum.
-It was a PR firm and looked at new discovery of harmful effects of cigarettes not as health issue but as PR issue.
-They did a textual advertisement called “A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers” and first section attempts to discount dangers while the second sections says that they feel responsibility and were forming Tobacco Industry Research Committee.
-They framed themselves as the victim of malicious false publicity against them.
-1960s- US Surgeon General appointed committee to investigate effects of smoking.
-They found that cigarette smoking was a health hazard and also it was found at this time that nicotine was addictive.
-Also, the Tobacco Industry’s own research committee was discredited as using public relations propaganda to discredit genuine scientific research.
-1970s-The industry used filtered cigarettes to respond to problems against them.
-Still said made filtered cigarettes due to perception of public and not b/c of actual harmful effects.
-Second hand smoke issues also arose.
-Still the tobacco industry would still only acknowledge that there was controversy regarding the health safety of cigarettes.
-Even their own research was showing these harmful effects so they shutdown many or their research facilities.
-1980s-Control of information by lawyers in order to prevent detrimental disclosures was tightened.
-Reports on research were not long documents but little snippets.
-Dr. Huber on Frontline on PBS discredited the tobacco industry and he was a doctor that used to work for them.
-1990s suits were filed against them. The Liget Tobacco group even acknowledged that nicotine is addictive.

Single Word
-1994 heads of industry testified before congressional committee that they did not think nicotine was addictive.
-But the industry had internal documents that said otherwise so perjury charges were pursued but then realized could not prosecute someone for their “belief.”

Graphical Images
-Joe Camel (trendsetter but still innocent cartoon) was meant to divert use away from the harmful effects of cigarettes.
-10 million out of court settlement about Joe Camel and promise to cease use.
-Kluger shows a 1974 advertisement that has two smoking horsemen surrounded by snow; snow represents exact opposite of pollution cigarette smoke causes to environment and lungs.

Ethical Appraisal
Aristotle-
Virtue and honesty so see tobacco industry as unethical.
Kant-
Tobacco documents unethical b/c they don’t act in a way that the industry would want their actions to become a universal principle.
Utilitarian
-No benefit to tobacco smoking.
Feminist/Ethics of Care
-Industry shows capitalism and free enterprise at its worse.

“Star Wars- Hope vs. Reality”
-Strategic Defense Initiative known as Star Wars.
-Reagan in 1983 developed to form defense against nuclear weapons.
-We were in nuclear stalemate with Soviet Union.
-Mission statement may sound good but it was technically impossible.

Overview of SDI
-The goals were to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles before they reached our soil, and to make nuclear weapons obsolete and impotent.
-Technical optimism in Reagan’s speech.
-Goals are worthy and desirable but not technically feasible.

A Complex System
-Its battle management functions relied on computer software and hardware.
-The software was the link that would make the whole program work.
-Wanted to detect incoming missiles at moment of launch.
-All of the detecting/tracking and intercepting devices would have to be guided by precisely coordinated computer systems.

Congressional Office of Technology Assessment
-Relying on tens of millions of lines of code in software to function correctly.
-Concerns about feasibility.

Congressional Hearing
-President’s science advisor toned it down- now not total protection but investigation of strategic defense options.
-The science advisor said that technologies not here now but on the horizon.
-Senators argued over technical feasibility.

SDI Documents: Pro and Con
Pro
-Used moral, political or ideological statements to justify need for radical change.
-Appeal for want for real defense against adamant threat.
-Keyworth, science advisor, discusses our brutal enemy, etc.
-Keyworth now claimed SDI was for deterrence (retraction of President’s initial statement) and to provide additional leverage to control negotiations. In his address reduced technical needs from program.
-Fletcher headed up Defensive Technology Study group and it had optimistic view of SDI.

Con
-Main con was that it could not be achieved.
-Smarr, director of technology for national center, said simply it will not do what it is meant to do.
-Lin, computer scientist at MIT, said technology can not coincide with reality (including the unknown and unexpected).

Parnas
-Father of software engineering.
-gave clear, technical statement
-said public should not be misled about the security provided by SDI.
-no software system could possibly be developed along the lines required by SDI that would be trustworthy.
-Frank about why he resigned from panel, he couldn’t continue to use vast amounts of money for his own self interest in a program that was not feasible.
-He was all about personal credibility and not making 1000 dollars a day.

Stars Wars Boycott Pledge
-petition in opposition developed at University of Illinois and Cornell.
-pledge not to accept funding related to SDI, and it was signed by thousands of scientists, researchers, etc.
-signed by 15 Nobel Prize winners

Patriot-Small Scale SDI
-In Persian Gulf War, patriot missiles intercepted Iraqi missiles.
-But only 9 percent effectiveness rating, most of the time they did hit their targeted missiles.

Ethical Appraisal
Aristotle
-Unclear about supporters-they want to help but at the same time are they being deceptive of effectiveness.
Kant
-Realistic was is not realistic then ethical problem.
Utilitarianism
-Cost vs. benefit would show ethical problems in this view
Feminist/Ethics of Care
-Feminist against violence.

Parnas acted ethically in all appraisals.