Technology Ethics Flashcards
What is the technology-blindness of traditional ethics?
Traditional ethics has an image of the human being as an autonomous subject (who can use science and technology to achieve their aims). This is a humanistic, anthropocentric view. Moral theory concerns how our people’s actions are related to other rational autonomous beings (=people). This excludes the moral role of material objects, that and how technologies order societies and the potential moral significance of “non-humans” as “others”.
What is the view of determinism on technology?
Technology just develops as it does. “If I can’t stop these developments, I don’t think anyone else can”.
Jacques Ellul (& Theodor Adorno + Max
Horkheimer): Technological determinism:
development of technology is autonomous
steering force: optimal efficiency
Where does the determinist view of technology lead to?
Either a doom scenario or a salvation scenario
What is the view of non-determinism on technology?
There are two versions of non-determinism: light and not-so-light.
Light: “We can influence the way technology develops”
Not-so-light: “We are in complete control of the way technology develops”
Where does technology ethics deal with?
- (the moral aspects of) the relationship between humans and technology
- technological worlds, technological futures
- moral questions specific to the technological age
- new emerging technologies = new emerging principles
What is the view of instrumentalism on technology?
Technology isn’t good or bad, it is in the hands of the people. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” would be a typical instrumentalist quote.
What is the view of substantivism on technology?
Technology structures our lives and cultures. Technology steers our view of the world. Science and technology are not neutral at all. Technology opens up a restricted window on the world
- technology largely determines how we perceive and appreciate reality
Martin Heidegger:
• infiltration of technology in all sectors of society
• other social domains lose ability to assign meaning
What is an artifact?
Artifacts are all things made by humans
What is the view of interactivism on technology?
technology interacts with our lives and
cultures. Interactivists stress the moral relevance of technologies. They emphasize that these technologies that surround us and that are at least in part decisive for how we look at the world and how we interact with each other, what we value and how we live up to our values. This increases the complexity of moral problems
Why is instrumentalism probrematic?
P1: Technologies have a function P2: To have a function, means to (help) achieve a goal P3: Goals imply values C: Technologies are value-laden
What is old-school technological determinism?
Karl Marx:
The material and economic structure of production in society [“base”] by and large determines the social, political, institutional and cultural structure of that society [“superstructure”].
Technology forms a major factor in the “base.”
Hence, technology co-determines society’s social, political, institutional and cultural structure.
Do artifacts have socio-cultural effects?
Yes. Cultural values and ideas of the designer are
imprinted in the artifact these inscriptions prescribe how you should behave.
What are scripts?
Cultural values and ideas of the designer imprinted in the artifact. These inscriptions prescribe how you should behave. Scripts are not rigid, they might be changed by future users. E.g. webcam used as a mirror
What were the societal implications of the introduction of the birth control pill?
- The birth control pill is associated with the separation of sex from reproduction
- Pill allowed “unpunished” experimentation (“sex is for recreation, IVF is for procreation”)
- Sexual emancipation of women and homosexuals
- Birth regulation mentality (“unplanned” has come to mean “unwanted”)
What is the impact of technology on ethics?
- we are living in a technological culture
- technology extends in space and time
- the moral action is unclear, sometimes invisible
- technological artifacts have moral significance and consequences