How to Use this Code

This code consists of a preamble and nine sections. The preamble explains the purpose of the code and provides a principle for applying the general rules in the nine sections to specific situations: interpret the rules so as to pass on to our successors an IIT at least as good as we found it. Some sections include subsections. The rules in these subsections provide a partial interpretation of the section’s general rule. Each subsection is a reminder of a domain of conduct requiring extra caution. This code is not a moral algorithm, a substitute for deliberation, or an ordinary regulation designed for external enforcement, but an overarching guide to conscientious deliberation. It is supposed to capture what we now believe is how we would like others associated with IIT or other members of the IIT community to act, how we would like IIT as an institution to act, and how we too are willing to act—both directly and by helping others to do the same. This code is, of course, subject to revision in light of experience. Indeed, we should undertake a systematic review of it every few years.