Reflection 3: The Ethics of Invention
The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future
by Sheila Jasanoff
The Ethics of Invention looks into how technology has transformed the structure of human society, how we are controlled by technology, the socio-political forces it represents, and how we might be able to retain control. In the ancient days, technology was merely a tool for better feeding humankind, such as the development of tools for more efficient hunting. After centuries of development, every aspect of our daily lives is deeply influenced by technology. From the traffic lights that constituted the modern traffic codes to the much more advanced, yet controversial, genetic modification of human bodies, are all implications of technology on our society. The book looks into the ethical problems that technology brings, such as the power of formulating laws that involve technology, the impacts of technology being controlled by the government and a few digital oligarchs, and the responsibilities involved when technologies are not performing their designated functions.
I have never heard of this book, but I am a deep thinker, always spending nights without sleep in ethical dilemmas. The word “ethics” in the title interested me. I have an engineering background and am always motivated to develop new products that change the everyday lives of people, but concerned about the side effects my inventions can bring upon. I hope this book can offer me more insight, but as the word “ethics” suggests, I do not expect any solid solutions or suggestions from the book but rather discussions on open-ended and controversial topics.
This book pretty much meets my expectations. It looked into some well-known cases, such as discussions on the legitimacy of the government monitoring citizens’ online activities in the PRISM surveillance program as disclosed by Edward Snowden. It also broadened my understanding of how the powerless usually suffer more from disasters that arose from technological failures such as the Columbia space shuttle explosion and how the Americans and the Europeans treated genetically-modified crops differently. The main insights I gained from the reading includes the following:
The unknown unknowns
The unknown unknowns refer to the risks that are so unexpected that we had not even thought of. For known knowns, we understand how things work and how they might fail. In known unknowns, we know that there are things we do not understand. For the latter two, the risks can be calculated, damages can be anticipated and preventive actions can be taken to mitigate the risks. Yet, for unknown unknowns, we have no idea what the consequences might be. In the genetically modified crops dispute between the US and Europe, the US firms stated that such crops have no scientifically proven harm to native species, while the European governments are concerned that its impact might appear after decades. The concern over unknown unknowns also applies to other technological breakthroughs, such as no one has ever imagined the introduction of social media brought along addiction and minds being manipulated by the content on these platforms.
The regulation of technology under socio-political forces
The loss of the Challenger and the Columbia space shuttles disclosed the malfunctioning organization in NASA, but ultimately the people who bear the largest loss, i.e. the astronauts who lost their lives, do not have a say on whether to abort the mission. The mission is controlled by the senior officials who were also facing political pressure to meet the ambitions of the government. The regulation of technology is even more complicated as more socio-political powers are involved. The regulation on the digital giants in Silicon Valley is yet another example. With Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft being so influential and more powerful than many of the smaller nations in the world, they are exercising almost uncontrollable power. The local government had to indulge their actions so as to retain the jobs and money, and the competition between the Republicans and the Democrats in the US made the situation worse as many regulation efforts became the battleground of the two parties.
This book did not provide any great insights into the solution of the ethical problems involved in technology but rather brightened up the discussion which might help lead to better regulations. The author called for action for open, democratic dialogue so that everyone can participate in the future of technology regulations rather than being shaped by it.
The ethical problems of design were not mentioned in our class. Our class encouraged us to be as creative as we can and no one really anticipated the ethical issues it might arise. However, no matter how ethical-conscious we are, there are definitely unknown unknowns in every single design. My team suggested a device that helps record and reduce food waste, but who knows if someday the solution will be manipulated into a tool that breaches privacy or manipulates the eating habits of our users. As designers, I believe we need not be overly concerned with ethical issues, but rather the design thinking skills will help us and the society to develop a democratic regulating framework to tackle the future challenges that technology might bring upon to our society.
