ETHICS OF TECHNOLOGY CREATION
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1177 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences |
This very important issue does not yet seem to be considered with a sufficiently serious attention.
To all of the technological developments of the 20th century, the following words of A. BEDAU can be applied: “The development of a powerful new technology usually has ethical consequences. Atomic fission and fusion provide examples from recent history, and today genetic engineering threatens to teach us this lesson again. The havoc wreaked by computer ”viruses“and ”worms“provide ample evidence of the destructive power of artificial life technologies; precautions must be taken against their accidental misuse and intentional abuse”(1996)
Bedau could have cited numerous other examples: military uses of aircrafts, uncontrolled use of pesticides, imprudent use of antibiotics, etc.
In fact, the issue is very complex:
1)The discoverer generally feels that he is making a very positive contribution, specially if he/she is a scientist
2)He/she quickly loses control on the derived technologies
3)Psychological and sociological factors (greed, lust for power, and even pure irrresponsability) introduce undesirable and unethical deviations in the technological applications
4)When the “genie already escaped from the bottle” there is usually no way to put it back in it.
The subject should deserve a systemic inquiry into the deeper mechanisms of the whole process using for example models like small-world propagation, bottom-up and top-down processes, competition, awareness, norms and values .
The crucial question mark seems to be:
- Why is there such a difference between what ought to be and what happens in fact?
- What could be done about unexpected side effects and delayed effects ?
- How could personal responsability be enhanced by social education, i.e. how could individuals be made fitter as members of their society?
- What could be done to better forecasts about technological side effects?
- What kinds of regulations and/or controls could societies establish to avoid negative effects of technologies?
…and how to avoid in turn, negative effects of these legal (or other) devices?
And last, but not least, how could ethical or unethical behaviors derived from technology be accuratelyt assessed and valued, and by which social arbiters?
In short, this issue is overriding and a major systemic issue