It’s been a while since my last batch of blog posts, and I’d like to start off a new batch of posts with a little bit of conservatism.

January 15th 1929, about 19 years from today, Martin Luther King Jr. was born. As a son of Baptist minister, and a Baptist minister himself, he argued that

… progress in science and technology has not been equaled by “moral progress” — instead, humanity is suffering from a “moral and spiritual lag.”

He also preached that

“material advancement was meaningless without an accompanying moral structure” …

“The richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually”…

“Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul.”

Being a conservative person with Korean Catholic background, I have held similar views as that of Martin Luther King Jr..  But it was only a few months ago when I realized that my conservative moral principles are not well grounded when scrutinized objectively. When taking an ethical stance, it is important for one to be able to support his/her stance with some logical reason. I think a problem with conservative ethicists/roboethicist is that we tend to trust our ‘uneasy’ feeling in our gut when faced with ethical issues, and use the gut feeling as our moral guidance.

I am sure Martin Luther King Jr. had his set of rationale for holding on to his conservative views about the advancement of science and technology. However, with the rise of roboethics issues as practical issues rather than a mere food for thought, I think it’s important for conservative ethicists to ground our moral beliefs/values/stances firmly with rationale (outside of religious/cultural background) in order to constructively apply our beliefs in dealing with roboethics issues.

For full coverage on Martin Luther King Jr. and his moral compass, read the original article from Wired magazine: Jan. 15, 1929: Birth of a Moral Compass, Even for Science | This Day In Tech | Wired.com.