EC on Ethics and Business – Jonathan A

I do not think good business necessarily means good ethics, or vice versa. A business needs to make money, therefore it needs to make a profit. Good ethics can make for good business, but I also do not think that a good business needs good ethics. For example, a company can have good ethics and please its customers and have a great business, but this is not the case in many circumstances. In order to make a profit, if there is a dangerous product that is malfunctioning, the company weighs whether it is more costly to fix the problem and inform people or deal with the consequences if the product hurting someone. Is this good ethics? I personally do not think so. But, on the other hand, is it good business? Yes. 

During modern day business what Edison did is seen everywhere. Bashing your rival company is seen with huge companies such as Apple and PCs. Talking bad about anyone is not good ethics but it is done in many businesses because it is considered good marketing, or good business. So, I do not think that Edison was ethical in any sense of the word, but is any business? Good business does not equal good ethics.

Lineman’s Death – Heera J

Dear Editor:

 

My condolences to the lineman’s death. It is tragic that he died in the work of AC but that should not be a reason to have AC completely shut down. If you look at it DC has also had a lot of death from electrocution and that’s why AC became famous. Electricity is a growing industry. It is still in its young ages so obviously there would be some mistakes in it. To shut down AC is like trying to shout down electricity itself. This is doing injusitice to the poor people. The AC is cheaper for many to buy and that’s why so many people use it. It should be up to the public to decide on this.

 

George Westinghouse.

 

 

Sources:

The Dangers of Electric Lighting Edison (629 – 630)

 

Reply to Mr. Edison Westinghouse (656-659)

Extra Credit on Ethics and business ~ Desire’ B

 I believe that good business practices do not always involve ethical behavior. I mean think about it, if someone was selling the exact same thing as you, you are going to do whatever it takes to get people to buy from your store. You are going to advertise about how much better yours is than theirs, and you might even give false accusations that aren’t even true at all. Or, for another example there might not be any competition at all. Take for instance a food place. To better themselves they might start using cheap ingredients so it will be cheaper for them to make it, but then they might turn around and sell it for an expensive price. And on the other side good business does come from ethical behavior. I believe that lowering your prices to get more customers is completely ethical. You are not hurting anyone, you’re just simply lowering your rates to beat out your opponent, and I believe that is completely fair.

In regards to Edison his practices were completely unethical. He killed innocent dogs and tortured them to try and beat out his opponent. But sadly his tactics are used in modern business practices today as I mentioned an example above, but that does not make them justified. I believe that unethical behavior can never be justified no matter what the circumstances are. Don’t get me wrong though, just because I say that it is never justified doesn’t mean that I’m saying that I will always be ethical because in all reality there is no way in telling what I will do or what anyone else will do in the future. It really all depends on your morals, and beliefs for each circumstance you come across

17-Extra Credit on ethics and business – Rafael R.

Good business practices does not always involve ethical behavior but can cause ethical behavior as a consequence. For example, a bread maker may not be making cheap bread to feed the hungry, but to make money which he will use to live off of. He will by any means, sell his bread in any way possible, such as lowering his price to hurt another business. The way Edison tried to keep his business alive was by trying to harm the reputation of the other business. This is seen in today’s modern business as well. Advertising is one of the biggest ways to put out a good and also turn away business from your opponent. An example is medicine commercials where one medicine says its better than the other brand because it cures many different illnesses. The other brand tells its consumers that it is better than the rest because it targets one specific illness and is therefore more effective and your not taking medication for a symptom you don’t have.

17-Extra Credit on Ethics and Business-Keya Z.

I believe that good business practices do not always involve ethical behavior. As a matter of fact, I believe it is the exact opposite. Company’s and businesses will do whatever it takes to put their product out there on the market, even if it means making false accusations. They want to be known to the world and put their name out there. The tactics that Edison used are definitely being used in today’s modern business. If there are two very competitive businesses that are selling the same product, they will advertise good things about themselves and bad things about their competition. Most of which is not true. But whatever brings in the customers and brings home the money will be all that the company needs. However, it is important to note that all different types of business and companies have different ethical beliefs, views, and values. So one company might think its alright to advertise false information, while the other might think its completely wrong and still do it.

16C-Lineman’s Death-Keya Z.

To Whom it May Concern:

I am terribly sorry about the death of the man. It was very tragic. I send my deepest apologies to his family. But the blame cannot be put on alternating current alone. Yes, it was AC which killed him, but direct current would have the same effect if more volts were added to it. “With a continuous current of 400 volts a dog weighing fifty-seven and a half pounds was killed instantly. That an alternating current of one hundred volts, even when effectively applied, does not kill is shown by two experiments on another dog. A continuous current of 304 volts was applied for thirty seconds, and then an alternating current of one hundred volts for sixty-five seconds; yet the dog was unhurt” (A reply to Mr. Edison-P. 657).  It is irrelevant how he died, or by which electric system. You cannot base your decision to shut down alternating current on the death of a man-its unethical. Look at how much progress we have made with AC. It is unbelievable sometimes. Millions of people are using it in their homes and buildings today safely, which cannot be done with direct current. “The reader of Mr. Edison’s article who is unfamiliar with the alternating system of distribution would naturally infer that in practice the same voltage is carried on the house wires as on the mains, as in the Edison system; but such is never the case under any circumstances. In this complete disconnection of the street and house wires found the reason of the positive safety both to life and property enjoyed by the users of the alternating system. It is one of the great advantages of this system that it admits of the use of high voltages for the street mains, and of wholly separate and independent currents, with absolutely safe voltage, for all wires within buildings- a condition which is infallibly secured and maintained by converters, or transformers, located in or near each building” (A Reply to Mr. Edison-P.658-659).  We have benefited the world with its brilliance. Thomas Edison is just looking for ways to make alternating current look bad because it beat out his direct current. His unethical approach to why alternating current is not safe should not be considered at all. He will do whatever it takes to make his DC look better than my AC. So please, hear what I am saying, and make the right choice. Don’t shut alternating current down. It is the future. Thank you.

Sincerely,

George Westinghouse

16c Edison, Brown, and Electrocution – Chris C

To whom it may concern,

The dangers of Alternating Current (AC) are quite real, but this is no different than the potential danger in all new technology.  For instance, would the one who presented rat poison to modern era have expected that it would end up killing more than just rats?  It is most likely that the answer is yes, the dangers were present and known, but the substance was used and expected to be handled with great care.  Such care must also be demonstrated with AC and with time it will lead us into an era of great prosperity that similar, Direct Current (DC) systems may not provide.  The fears that have prompted this letter are not painful shock or instant death, but one of such horror of an incident that its memories invade the mind upon any thoughts of linemen.  While his death was caused by a high voltage current, the issue here is not the dangers that high voltage AC provides, but how it should be handled and maintained.

In the case of Mr. Feeks, a live wire was attempted to be removed improperly.  The loss of a trained man, a productive member of society, a husband, and a father are worth far more than any line.  From this further enforcements and training are being implemented, and hopefully most will think twice before attempting a similar task.  However, this work was being done in response to the poor state of the New York overhead lines.  An unnecessary death in a clearly dangerous tangle and for what?  Nothing.  A good man lost his life, yet there are others sitting comfortably upon a very bloated salary disguising themselves as “The New York City Board of Electrical Control”.  Had the subways been enacted as mandated by law men would not be working near such dangerous forced while performing a strange balancing act high up on poles, but down on the earth with firm footing and exterior distractions, away from the people where there would be no chance to cause serious harm to passerbys.

Those passerbys, however, are in need of this power, this AC.  Giving them this tool opens up holes for the danger, but we have little to worry about.  The same power coursing through the wires overhead is not the same power in the homes of our customers.  With the induction transformer electricity is lowered to voltages even lower than Edison’s safe 300V pressure.  As he has claimed and tested this has not caused instant death, even in a dog, an animal that generally has a smaller build than a person.  So why do we change our voltages?  The change in voltages allows AC to provide power to people much further away for less money and raw material than DC systems.  This makes electricity an affordable commodity that everyone, from the farmers to the aristocrats and even the factory workers of New York to enjoy.  And because we transmit over such a long range we have but one generation plant releasing minimal smog far away from the cities, much different from the Edison Central Stations, which must be placed within miles of each other creating unreasonable amounts of noise and smoke in our cities.

While AC is a new tool, we are doing our best to make it work safely and cheaply to provide everyone a healthy life.  A dead customer is a costomer no more, but a happy customer is a customer for life.

Sincerely,

Westinghouse Co.

Edit (Planning):

Source – Semicontinuous currents, how DC may kill.  What DC is, and why it is (not) safe.

Not even done reading them.

Lineman’s Death – Ivan B.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to you on behalf of Mr. Westinghouse and the Westinghouse Electric Company about the matters of dangers of AC electricity. Mr. Edison and the supporters of DC current electricity believe that the different type of electricity, AC is very dangerous. While AC electricity may be have more voltage than DC electricity, any type of electricity is dangerous whenever mishandled.

While the tragedy of John Feeks was a horrible one we can not meander on that fact that he died. We must move forward in the technologies of electrical equipment, make them better, and make sure that an accident like this does not happen again. It was the AC wires that killed Feeks, but it is also the AC wires that bring electricity to thousands of people all over the country where DC current cannot be available.

A technology that is comparable to that of electricity is a horse drawn car. The intention of a horse drawn car was to make the lives of people simpler and easier. While it did make it easier to transport things over long distance, it also accomplished something that was not expected. When horse drawn cars were first invented and people did not know how to use them, many accidents happened because people did not know how to navigate them, nor were there laws as how to regulate the use of those horse drawn cars. As technologies were innovated, and laws were made, the use of horse drawn cars got safer and less and less accidents happened and fewer people got hurt. Just like the cars got safer, with the inventions like ground wires, and safety rubber gloves, so will the use of AC electricity.

Mr. Edison says that AC electricity is more dangerous and causes many accidents, while that is not entirely true. There have been many more accidents in Edison’s power plants than the ones that Westinghouse’s plants have produced. When it comes to electricity one has to be careful with how they handle it. AC electricity has potential to be dangerous, but it is not more dangerous than DC electricity. One of Edison’s DC electricity plants caught on fire because the DC electricity was not handled correctly.

Even though there were more accidents caused by Edison’s power plants, there have also been controlled  unethical experiments by Edison as well. To show the difference between the safety of DC electricity and AC electricity Edison’s people have fried animals. This did not show the safety of DC as well as Edison would have thought, because when Edison electrocuded a dog with DC current, the dog was in a horrible condition, even though it did not die. When the dog was already in this horrible condition, all he had to do was simply finish it off by killing it with AC electricity. This did not show that AC electricity was dangerous, it showed that it could finish the job after DC had already started it.

Sincerely,

Constantin Kozovsky

Linemas’s Death- Nicole Ongor

Edison is known for his expertise in electricity. One of the smartest men, a veteran in this particaular field. Edison invented a workable incandescent light bulb and a whole electrical power system using direct current. Do I know if the death of Lineman’s was delieberately supported by Edison so that to publics thought of using alternating current would change for the worse? Was he really trying to scare peopleand concluding that his testing on animals using altenating current?  Is he out to seek revenge and sabbotage Westinghouse’s new form of electricity? Or does Edison strongly believe that alternating current is harmful and that Lineman death is a result of using Westinghouse’s electrical power system? Maybe altenating current is much worse than direct current but how are we to know for a fact. Lineman’s death is not vaild proof until there is proof that direct current, given in the same situation that lineman was in, could kill him. Maybe electricity in general is harmful. Maybe electricity was not the solution to gas lgihting or candles. Maybe electricity is just as dangerous and previous alternate means. I think we need more proof before we job into conclusion. We need to have a full investigation of the incident.

                                                                                           ~Madame Questionnaire

16C- Linemans Death- Jhonny E.

Editor,

Electricity is a field that is currently growing. But many parts of the field are incomplete and far from being perfected. The tragic accident of John Feeks, is a accident that I feel very sorry about and I wish it I could do something about it. But I am only human I can only pay my respects.

How can someone blame AC for this tragic accident when AC is doing so much for so many more people. AC is currently lighting so many homes around the USA, and I only see the positive aspects of my system. It is able to carry much more voltages over larger distances and serve more people. It is not my goal to hurt people, but to improve their lives by providing electricity to them.

George Westinghouse