IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 18

Opinion
Opinion
The New York Times Test: An
Intersubjective Reconsideration
Mahdi Kafaee
Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Shahrood University of Technology,
Shahrood 3619995161, Iran
 SometimeS, in our capacity as professionals,
and under certain circumstances, we find ourselves
faced with an ethical problem such as a conflict of
interest in which codes of ethics or available ethical
problem-solving methods cannot help us decide
upon the moral course of action to take. Hence, either
the codes or methods are flawed, or we are not using
them appropriately. A method claimed to be helpful
in such situations is The New York Times Test (NYTT).
The NYTT is, in fact, a thought experiment. When
you are caught up in the above situation and cannot
use the aforementioned codes and methods, you can
perform this thought experiment. In so doing, suppose
that when faced with the ethical problem, you choose
one of the possible options available to you, and that
as a result, you have taken a certain course of action
in practice. Now see whether you are willing to inform
your parents or children clearly of the course of action
you have taken, or whether you would prefer for your
decision not to be discussed. Suppose, further, that a
report of your action appears on the first page of a high
circulation newspaper such as The New York Times,
where everyone can read all about it. Would you feel
ashamed of the report of your action in that newspaper?
Would you be comfortable justifying the decided-upon
action in an interview on 60 min? Would you
be able to be accountable to public opinion comfortably?
Would disclosing your action damage your
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2022.3147529
Date of current version: 9 March 2022.
18
0278-0097/22©2022 IEEE
Mostafa Taqavi
Department of Philosophy of Science,
Sharif University of Technology,
Tehran 11155-1639, Iran
reputation or that of your company's? The NYTT holds
that if the disclosure of your action would embarrass
you, damage your reputation, or harm your company's
reputation, then this action is something which you
probably should not take and that the decided-upon
action might require some rethinking [3], [16], [17].
One such test is sometimes called the 60-min test, The
Wall Street Journal test, the TV test, the smell test, the
disclosure rule, or the spouse/children/parents/grandparents
test [5], [7], [8], [16]
In another version of this quasi-intuitive approach,
it is called the " sleep test " : in general, moral agents
were confident that by listening to their hearts
and avoiding actions that made them feel uncomfortable,
they could lead ethical lives. They often
expressed this approach in simple questions: If I do
this, will I be able to sleep at night? Will I be able to
look at myself in the mirror in the morning? Will I be
the kind of person I want to be? [1].
Let us consider an example. You pay a visit to
one of your suppliers as the purchasing manager of
one of their major clients, where you receive a gift or
hospitality which might or might not be a bribe. The
company's intentions might be to influence your decisions
when you are acting in your professional capacity
by giving this gift/bribe to you. But irrespective of
what the company's intentions might be, they might
have put you in a position where you have a conflict
of interest, that is, your professional decision might be
influenced by your personal interests. Although some
companies set a threshold for gifts or hospitalities that
one may legitimately receive, after which one must
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022

Contents
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - Cover1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - Cover2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - Contents
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 4
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 5
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 6
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 7
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 8
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 9
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 10
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 11
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 12
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 13
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 14
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 15
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 16
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 17
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 19
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 20
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 21
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 22
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 23
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 24
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 26
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 28
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 29
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 30
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 31
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 32
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 33
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 34
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 35
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 36
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 37
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 38
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 39
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 40
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 41
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 42
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 43
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 44
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 45
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 46
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 47
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 48
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 49
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 50
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 51
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 52
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 53
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 54
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 55
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 56
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 57
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 58
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 59
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 60
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 61
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 62
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 63
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 64
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 65
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 66
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 67
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 68
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 69
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 70
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 71
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 72
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 73
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 74
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 75
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 76
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 77
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 78
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 79
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 80
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 81
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 82
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 83
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 84
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 85
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 86
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 87
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 88
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 89
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 90
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 91
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 92
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 93
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 94
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 95
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - 96
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - Cover3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2022 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2013
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com