The ethics of technology
Is technology inherently good? Is it morally neutral? Does it depend on the hands, hearts and minds of the people who use it? Should consumers just “let the market decide” what kinds of technologies are good or bad? Does the Internet spell the end of privacy as we know it?
These are the kinds of questions Tom Powers thinks about. As director of the University’s Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy, he is interested in values and choices concerning emerging technologies such as robotics, driver-less cars, the Internet and nanotechnology. But what exactly are the ethics of these technologies, and might they really require new ways of thinking about right-and-wrong?
There are two schools of philosophical thought in the ethics of technology, Powers says. The first holds that “there is nothing new under the sun”; old ethical theories can simply be applied to these new issues—problems solved! The second is the complete opposite—that the technologies and the choices they present are so novel, so peculiar, so unprecedented, that we must learn to ask different, more sophisticated questions of “right” and “wrong.” Powers sides with the latter.
He believes ethical questions about emerging technologies must address (at least) these issues:
What are the risks and benefits?
Who will bear the costs, and who will reap the benefits? (“It’s not always the same population.”)
How do you represent and respect the interests of people who aren’t here to speak for themselves—such as future generations—or even reason about the interests of non-human animals, ecosystems and other classes?
“When we lock ourselves into a technology, these are the kinds of questions we must ask,” says Powers. “If we don’t ask them now, then a lot of the consequences we’ll face down the road won’t any longer be choices—and hence some solutions may be out of reach.”
