Technoethics: An Analysis of Tech Assessment and Design Efficacy

Technoethics: An Analysis of Tech Assessment and Design Efficacy

Jennifer Fleming
Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 23
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-5892-1.ch008
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Abstract

Technoethics is a discipline that seeks to analyze technology's effect on society. This is accomplished by evaluating each proposal from two perspectives: holistic impact and practical application. The first approach looks at how the tool will benefit society and any potential risks from its introduction. The second review evaluates the design used to create the product to understand if this is the best possible construct or whether an alternative would reduce potential harm. The history of technoethics in this setting and the efficacy of educational guidance toward better outcomes are examined and evaluated. Included are recommendations about how institutions could enhance their curriculum to better promote societal well-being.
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Background

The term technoethics was developed by Mario Bunge in his 1977 publication “Towards a technoethics.” Here, Bunge expounds that the old monarchy structure used to govern society no longer exists and those individuals that are most capable of erecting change and growth within society also bear the responsibility of ensuring its protection, stating,

Nobody recognizes rights without duties, privileges without responsibility…everyone is rightly held responsible for what he does and even for what he fails to do when he ought to act…and the outcome of their labors is well-known: a new kind of society, one that may carry mankind either to a higher evolutionary level or to a quick extinction. (Bunge, 1977, pp. 96-97)

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