The Blog-Ethicist: Machine Error In Your Favor
(Faced in a slightly different way than Portland's questions.)
If I went to 7-11 and the employee made an error that resulted in my receiving one product free, I would feel obligated to tell them about it. Yet, when I use a vending machine and the machine spits out two items instead of one, I've always seen that as a bonus.
Does the fact that the machine made the error make it more acceptable for me to take advantage of the mistake? Is this a good example of why we shouldn't fear the impeding robot uprising? (Assuming that the robots are not Socialists, of course.) Anonymous, Salt Lake.
If I went to 7-11 and the employee made an error that resulted in my receiving one product free, I would feel obligated to tell them about it. Yet, when I use a vending machine and the machine spits out two items instead of one, I've always seen that as a bonus.
Does the fact that the machine made the error make it more acceptable for me to take advantage of the mistake? Is this a good example of why we shouldn't fear the impeding robot uprising? (Assuming that the robots are not Socialists, of course.) Anonymous, Salt Lake.
Labels: Mark
posted by M S Martinez at 4/07/2010 01:13:00 PM
2 Comments:
Well, for one you can't really fix it if the vending machine gives you two items. It's not like leaving the extra item for the next person to get for free is any more moral than taking it.
It's like if you see a $20 bill on the ground picking it up isn't really immoral, but if you watch someone drop the $20, then pick it up off the ground. . . .
I agree with Brad. Although it is unfortunate that you are benefiting from somebody else's misfortune, that is the hazard of using a vending machine. Using those self-scanners at the checkout line might be a better analogy.
I once received 8 drinks from a vending machine because one of the 20oz bottles had lodged itself right above the exit chute, preventing any other bottles from being retrieved. WIth a little prying, I was able to free all the bottles and handed them out to strangers walking by. It felt pretty awesome.
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