Right/Wrong: How Technology Transforms Our Ethics

by Juan Enríquez

Most people have a strong sense of right and wrong, and many of us are not reluctant to argue with someone who disagrees. But when we take an unyielding stand on something we regard as an eternal truth, we forget that ethics evolve over time. What was once broadly acceptable is now completely unacceptable. For example, burning heretics is no longer considered a just punishment. Child marriage is not applauded as a family value. Many shifts in the right vs. wrong pendulum are affected by advances in technology. In Right/Wrong, Juan Enriquez reflects on the evolution of ethics in a technological age.

From the TED stage to the page, Juan Enriquez, author of As the Future Catches You and Evolving Ourselves, presents a lively and engaging guide to ethics in a technological age.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Historical, Science, Futurism, Technology, Business

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Juan Enríquez Cabot is a Mexican-American academic, businessman, speaker and best selling author.

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea that improvements and changes in technology inform ethical choices is important. If there had been no industrial revolution, or if it had taken much longer to arrive, how much longer would the abolition of slavery have taken? Machines able to do the jobs of slaves made it much easier for people to become abolitionists. There are more examples in the book but this is the most poignant one.

The author also makes the important point (which many others have made too) that no matter how enlightened we think we are, we are doing things now that people in one or two generations will be aghast at, the same way we are aghast at slaveowners. "At this moment, society has a surplus of Avenging Angels and a drought of Ghandis," he says, accurately.

But the book is annoying. Its style is painfully casual, with lots of "BTW" and "BFD" and little factoids or cutesy asides which are right-justified in a different font. (All of this from MIT Press.) It is poorly edited with missing words and extra words ("clueless as to just what just happened"). Sentences that may have been written when drunk, like "Pharma often it abuses and price gouges." I could only gasp in horror when he quoted Susan Sontag.....but sourced it to a Goodreads quote! People, no. One-third of Goodreads quotes are made up.

He claims American test scores have been flat, but he quotes someone who only looked at 12th graders. (Test scores in math and reading for 4th and 8th graders, the other two groups tested on the NAEP, have been steadily increasing over the same time period.) He writes that Al-Qaeda banned plastic shopping bags - but even the article he links to doesn't claim that (it was the terrorist group the Shabab, which the article says "has claimed allegiance to Al Qaeda") and the article is by Rukmini Callimachi, so buyer beware!

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

SUCH a good book. What a fun read. I wish it would’ve focused a bit more on looking forward rather than at the present but still an excellent book.

[Peter Joosten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the work of Enriquez, especially Evolving Ourselves. My main point of critique concerning this book is the heavily focussed on the US.

[H.S. Rivney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking

As always, a smorgasbord of food for thought about the past, our future, and the role it must take on as we carry on as humans. Consider, for instance, how technology freed animals from chemical testing. How do we reflect back on the people and the era when it was the only way to ensure safety for humans, of drugs, or crash helmets. And looking back we discover that animal subjects gave invalid results relating to humans?
Humans have the largest ego of any living things, and the most capable brains for the body we have. But what we create can destroy us.
An engaging read for anyone looking for a new perspective on technology and our inevitable future with what we have done, or not.

[Patrick Pilz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you #Netgalley for the free copy to review.

I actually liked the notion of the book a lot. How to we judge right from wrong when ethics are changing? Technology and cultural evolution even within our lifetime have changed us and the way we look at past behavior. The book provides an interesting and provocative thought which is extremely valuable in current times, where we discuss who are true heroes, which memorials to keep and what street names to rename.

Unfortunately, the book leaves the path at the end and becomes a political statement about incarceration rates, immigration and other topics and leaves the path of an otherwise fantastic start. Still a very interesting read in current times.

[Careo Liberalis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very accessible book, incisive yet informally so. The structural features—in particular, bolding of text, frequent spontaneously placed diagrams/figures/images, and sentences and questions conversational in tone that often abruptly confront the reader’s beliefs—make for a breezy read. I think there is much to gain from the book, even if with specific claims one might disagree. Enriquez’s questions encourage one to form opinions on relevant topics that one may have never before considered, also providing enough context for one to do so. The reader is sure to sincerely consider while reading how deeply technology has affected our reality.

[Marisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I so badly wanted to love this book as it's potential was massive, however what could have been incredibly interesting gets lost in an over-simplified word soup. The author poses some intriguing questions, but never explores anything deeply and doesn't really attempt answers. Also, I didn't appreciate the way this was written with snarky asides and over-capitalization for emphasis - it's not a blog! The typos didn't engender confidence either. At least it was a quick read.

[Chloe Duckworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to take this book seriously at times because of its ridiculous and excessive bolding, massive subtitles, italics, etc. But AI could not produce such grammar and awkward Gen Z phrasings in a book, so I do appreciate that.

I found myself both disgusted and validated at different points of this text, and perhaps that proves the ultimate thesis, that ethics are not and cannot be judged as static.

However, I think this book pays way too much credit to the generations of white human traffickers that engaged in slavery despite exposure to its horrors. Enríquez seemed to selectively judge ancestors who committed harms he cared most about, and slavery was not one of them.

But none of these qualms actually matter because he is correct, ethics are contextual and ever-changing, and I hope the next generations after mine prove us all to be wrong and move us closer to a better world. I hope in that moment of course correction, I am the person that I wish to be, that welcomes change with open arms.

This book reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a colleague about coherent extrapolated volition when working on AI alignment. I would LOVE to know Enríquez's opinion on this.

[maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly... I don't exactly know what this book was missing. I think it probably just gets beat by stories with characters that people can relate to, but the research, writing style, and content were great. I thought that changing fonts and text sizes to convey certain points was a new-yet-very-effective strategy in writing! Enríquez also does a good job of not making the book political, rather, appealing with a commonsense logic that encourages debate and openness to new points of view. I truly do find it interesting, and true, simply something I hadn't before considered, that ethics does change as society changes. I did like this book, don't get me wrong, but something just compels me to give 5s, and that wasn't here. would recommend a read, though! super relevant

[beyond.themargins · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly... I don't exactly know what this book was missing. I think it probably just gets beat by stories with characters that people can relate to, but the research, writing style, and content were great. I thought that changing fonts and text sizes to convey certain points was a new-yet-very-effective strategy in writing! Enríquez also does a good job of not making the book political, rather, appealing with a commonsense logic that encourages debate and openness to new points of view. I truly do find it interesting, and true, simply something I hadn't before considered, that ethics does change as society changes. I did like this book, don't get me wrong, but something just compels me to give 5s, and that wasn't here. would recommend a read, though! super relevant

[Kyle Petitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about ethics in an era that seems more interested in out-working each other than having a dialogue. As an engineer, i feel that ethics isn’t talked about enough in school. The book does a great job of unpacking ethical dilemmas and allowing the reader to come to their own conclusion instead of stating his opinion. I also love how he stresses that ethics change and talks about past practices like slavery that were status quo in their own eras. I’d recommend this book to absolutely anyone with the caveat that they have an open mind reading it and not to shut down if they disagree with the authors points

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the angles taken by the author, even if I don't always agree with his conclusions. Most of all, I appreciate his emphasis on the practice of humility.

That being said, this book would have been so much better with better editing. Transposed words, missing articles and prepositions, and--at times--poor punctuation gave this book a more amateurish tone than one expects in an MIT Press production.

But for the grammar and diction, this would be a four-star book. Four stars for ideas, but a minus-one star for poor editing.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking - but sometimes hard to read

This is a book that everyone should read - no matter what your stance is on any aspect of the human condition. It’s that important.
However, it’s readability would have been improved by better editing. There were times I had to stop and re-read a sentence in order to understand what was written. This was due to very easily corrected things such as syntax, grammar - even spelling! For me, this interrupted the flow of the book.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this quick read, the author challenges you to think deeply about how technology affects our ethics. He provides very few answers, but asks many great questions.

I found myself chuckling in agreement at some of his takedowns of common ethics and squirming uncomfortably at others. If nothing else, I think I've come away with a bit more humility in judging the ethics of others.

[Daniel McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brought up some interesting points of discussion. An interesting take on an ethics book. I felt it was targeted towards a younger audience and sometimes felt juvenile. There were many typos and errors along the way which made reading a bit tough. However the overall topic was well discussed and thought provoking.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you normally spend zero to just a little bit of time thinking about ethics, this book is for you. Its whole purpose is to get you thinking about ethics, rather than to actually teach you ethics.

It’s a relatively easy read with some cool facts/graphs and curious trolley-problem-esque questions.

This book also needs some editing as there are a few typos here and there.

[Devin B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whoever edited this book did a terrible job. Actually I highly doubt there even was an editor. The amount of typos, grammatical errors, and just nonsensical sentences in this book had me questioning whether I was having a stroke. I also don’t appreciate the attempt to incorporate internet slang/abbreviations. Do better, MIT Press. Great book though!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay.

[Bernardo Briones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, should be a required reading at University level. Ethics, especially Bioethics, concerns us all, as this global pandemic has shown.

[Ella Lawler · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book, it was amazing

[Ralph · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting and enlightening read on how technology changes can and do change or view of ethics, of right and wrong.

[Susan B. McIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book that looks at technology and its impact in the here and now as well as in the future. It will cause stimulating discussions in book groups. The author presents some quite controversial matter that is causing consternation in today's society.

[Mackenzie Bogiages · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, I wish it had delved into future problems more.