Reflection 3 — Book Review
The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future by Sheila Jasonoff
The 21st Century has been a big bubble of Innovations that has changed the world order where Technology has been the driving force that has enabled to bring about a dynamic transformation of how Human Life has progressed. The two Decades of Innovation Streak has overthrown the 2 centuries of world order where, Today the Newspapers are replaced by news apps and the TV channels are replaced by Digital content libraries to enthrall our lives. The Debate about Ethics around Humanity has been going on for ages under different verticals and functions. The latest addition to that list is Technology, how ethical is technology? Are technological innovations changing human value systems? etc. The question we all need to understand is, did we have an ethically perfect society before the arrival Technology ? The progression of the Human Race has been Unfair, Biased and luck oriented. In a Capitalistic world the rich are thriving hard to get richer and the poor are thriving to merely sustain the upcoming days, weeks or months. It is a grey area as we approach the next era where human lives are blended into the Technological Sphere.
“Users of the Technology are Blamed, and Technology is always Protected”
The author explains a few examples where the technology has its gray area where the user or the company that has created the technology has not encountered a possible glitch during innovation Phase and during the adoption of the Technology major flaws that were unaccounted or unintended would be explored. The famous Gun Culture in the US that has never been about the Guns but always about the users who use the Gun, or a particular Race of people being blamed for a particular behavioral pattern about their usage of the Gun Technology but the technology that has caused the chaos has been protected from all the mess that it is involved in the grand scheme of things. The Ethics of regulating it has always been debated whereas adoption of it was never debated.
The author is vocal about many other Technologies like the Failure of Airbags opening at the right time has taken many lives, the bursting of the phone chargers which has caused hearing impairments to many of its users. This shows that new Technology is always given a considerable benefit of doubt whereas the users or the creators are always blamed. In some instances where the user had something kept on their dashboard where the Airbags didn’t open, or the wrong power socket was used for the chargers to burst up. All the above discussed examples show that the technology has taken over the lives of humans to a large extent where we are ready to embrace its faults (major/minor) and adapt accordingly, since it has been offering a considerable amount of luxury in its existence and we would rather let go of our personal space, liberty, and prior inhibitions than letting go of the Technology.
“Technology being Misused by Global Political Leaders to Establish Authority”
The place at which Technology originates has major impacts in and around that region to gain significant advantage in geopolitics through technology, as seen in the famous case of phone tapping done to the German Chancellor Angela Markel where sensitive data was at stake which jeopardized the US and German relationship on the Global stage. We have witnessed the Arab Springs happen exclusively because of the impact that social media (Facebook) had on its users and its power to connect with one another seamlessly. Although it is quite often stated that the US used its hegemony over Technology to restructure Middle East Politics by dethroning the brutal Emperors to bring about the Capitalist agenda into the mainframe of things and make the countries move towards Democracy.
As Technology is still in its nascent stage of Development, the Government or the authorities will always try to maximize their control over it since they see a long-term future with the citizens adapting to the technological lifestyle with the generations to come. It makes the task easier if they are able to dominate the proceedings with the help of technology so that they have a head start in the geopolitical sphere.
The solution to the modern day problems requires modern technological solutions and the Government sphere is advancing at a rapid pace in terms of adoption of technology.
As we have seen from the above examples, Ethics and Technology hasn’t always been on the same page and have gone parallel on many occasions since Technology was something the Human Race wasn’t prepared to imbibe into their lives smoothly like how traffic lights were universally integrated across the Globe. I believe that ethics and moral code will only come forefront when there is a failure in Technology to comply with the existing norms. One Particular case that has impacted me so far is the change in abortion law in Ireland when a women of Indian Origin who couldn't abort her fetus since there had been a complication during Gestation Period. Technology was at the aid to assist the doctors but Laws did not allow the Doctors to terminate the fetus in order to save the Mother’s life hence the question arises on the Ethics that the law was framed which led to the change of the Law in 2018 post its failure to help human race.Hence as Ethics and technology cross their path more often than expected since Ethics has been around for more than 2000 years and Technology is a mere 2 decade old. As Humans we are wired to a particular set of Ethical code of conduct which technology or Technologists cannot adapt swiftly which leads to the question that the regulators of law aren’t Tech Savvy and the Tech heads are constantly looking to push the human boundaries which is a constant battle.
I would like to conclude that Technology has given us the hope to make mistakes and adapt to it at a faster rate than merely surviving the mundane life. The innovation of Fire changed Human evolution (“Derived from the book — SAPIENS”). Though Fire might have caused some accidents along its journey, Humans have adapted themselves to handle fire and hence the progression likewise.There will always be debate about the Tech innovation and its impacts until we are able to handle Technology through regulation where regulators’ competence as much as that of innovators’ that is when Technology can be ethically groomed to be a boon for the Human race.
