The Ergonomics of Torture: The Moral Dimension of Evolving Human-Machine Technology

Abstract

No intelligent human activity is devoid of purpose. This is as true for science as for any other pursuit. The abdication of science from the realm of purpose — the propositional divorce of ‘what is’ from ‘what should be’ is a widely-perpetuated but fatal fallacy. As much as purpose predicates process, process promotes purpose. Purpose and process are locked in a symbiotic circle in which their independent existence is essentially meaningless. Unlike those who simply study the world as it is, we in human factors, as agents of change, must contemplate the world as it can be, in both its proximate and more distal forms. In seeking to change the world, as opposed to merely studying it, we cannot avoid the moral dimension of action. Here I examine our nascent approach to such issues using a pointed exemplar to trigger both visceral and cerebral response. The work is part of a continuing effort to found a new philosophy based upon perception-action mediated through our technological extensions to all human capacities.