“Research and development of new products is a noble work, it is not morally neutral but is morally positive. Discovering new materials, inventing new processes and creating new products for the public’s consumption is morally positive. It is important that is said out loud, research and development is not simply a value creation engine for greedy corporation’s bottom line. If you feel that way then you should not be in R&D. If you feel that the large profits that your company is either making or in pursuit of are immoral, then why help them accomplish that? Should not your intelligence be aimed at something that you can feel good about? something that helps you sleep at night?
If you feel that the R&D that you are doing is hurting people either because of the actual products that you are making or because the work is for a for profit corporation and profit is inherently bad, then why live with that distraction? Your very career will become a moral crisis that you will struggle with for years. Clear your conscience so that you will not be morally distracted from your efforts at learning and teaching.
I feel good about R&D for several reasons. I feel good about profit because profit from a corporation gives me employment, I’m not sure how I and thousands of colleagues would feed and house our families were it not for the profits of my corporation, feeding and housing of families is a very moral act. I feel good about profit because of the good things that money can do if it is in the right hands. Money donated by employees and the corporation itself goes to help people in need through charities and through government programs. Were it not for the profit of corporations, far more people would be much further in poverty. Profit is good in my particular company because some of it is reinvested in further learning and further development of knowledge and new products.
Second, discovery and development of knowledge is good for society. Think of Corning Inc.’s discovery of Pyrex glass; the properties of that particular glass have enabled possibly billions of people around the globe to cook their food more efficiently and likely more safely over and over. The inventors of Pyrex have therefore helped to feed people more efficiently around the globe. The simple act of inventing and developing new glass compositions and forming processes have served to help people. Did the Corning scientist who invented this composition know in what way they were helping people at the time? Likely not, they were probably just trying to understand glass science and its properties. Yet their work has helped millions for decades now. These are the types of things that R&D causes.
Knowledge helps people, ignorance and deception hurts people. “
Do you feel morally good, indifferent, or negative about your profession?
