Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Reflection from Watching Passengers (2016)

This is not a spoiler as I do not want to tell the story of the movie Passengers (2016) directed by Mortem Tyldum. I just want to say something about this movie, more like a reflection.
#1: Why do people want to look for a new colony?
In the movie, it is all about space traveling where a human can be transported to a new colony planet. People are willing to pay and travel hundreds over the years to start a new life. It doesn't matter if space traveling is possible in the future, we are already seeing thousands of people leaving their home every year to look for a new life, or merely just to survive. When we have to leave our home and take the risk to find a new place to survive, it is not a good sign at all.
#2: Can automation replace ALL humans?
Automation is going to be how we live in the future. Basically, jobs can be replaced by robots, in this movie, it's the Android. From bartender, chef, waiter, cleaner to pilot, almost all jobs can be replaced by robots. So, what are the jobs left for human beings? The designer and programmer of robots? As much as automation and Artificial Intelligence (A.I) been used in the movie to show how advanced our future can be, the main problem of the spaceship due to an accident cannot be solved without humans. However, only a few people needed to solve a problem because of the availability of A.I. There go our jobs in the future.

#3: Is the right decision always right?
People make a decision every day and we always want to make the right decision. Is the right decision always right? Somehow, we do not bother what is right or wrong when we come to a stage where we just want to get things done for the good of oneself. In the movie, Jim went through a typical process of decision making to wake Aurora from hibernation. Did he make the right decision? The movie shows some plots where it supports the decision made by Jim, but it was a criminal decision, a decision that is like killing someone. Yet, Jim is the hero in the movie, saving thousands of lives. I say it is complicated when it comes to what is the right thing to do.
#4: Are we differentiated by our wealth?
Another highlight in this movie is on the services available for a different classification of a passenger. The gold class passenger can access to more choices of meals and a much better room but no the economic class. Is this something new? Not at all because we experience this in our everyday life. This is just a norm, a widely accepted practice around the world now and...maybe forever. We are living in a world of differentiation, perhaps the word discrimination can describe this better. Like it or not, this classification of passengers will stay. So if you want the gold class services, maybe you can learn from Jim.
#5: Don't tell Android everything.
Lastly, don't let your android have access to all your data. The android can be a good companion to you but it is just a system designed to serve the user. It doesn't have judgmental decision when it comes to emotional related matters. The morale of the story, be careful with your privacy on Android, it don't mean harm but it can be dangerous.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Ethics in Consumer Marketing

Today while driving home from work, I heard a radio advertisement by P1 about their broadband offerings. What caught my attention was the scenario used by P1 to highlight their bandwidth and data allowed.

In the advertisement, there was a lady mentioning that she cannot watch a full episode of a Hong Kong drama because she ran our of data credits with her broadband provider. She sounded so frustrated while claiming that the download was incomplete. The advertisement tries to relate the scenario (problem) to the target audiences and attract their attention towards the offerings. The scenario will generate the tense and later motivate the target audience to seek for more information about P1 broadband packages.

However, there is this ethical issue that I want to 'choesay'. Why the lady need to download the Hong Kong drama? Does this mean she is trying to use the broadband for illegal download? Or is there any legal website that allows (free) download of drama? No doubt P1 tries to associate their offerings to the norm of Internet users in Malaysia (culture), but is it ethical to do so?

I really don't know the answer but at least it caught my attention today :)