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Perspectives
Published in Armin Grunwald, Technology Assessment in Practice and Theory, 2018
A second mechanism continuously leading to new tasks for TA is inherently included in the ongoing advance of science and technology: the spiral of unintended effects. Historical experience tells us about the occurrence of unintended consequences, which was and still is a major motivation of TA (Sect. 2.2). Parts of the research and development of new technology are driven by the motivation to overcome the unintended consequences of existing, established technologies. Energy-efficient technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by older technology are an example. Technologies using natural resources much more efficiently can play a major role in reducing or avoiding the negative impacts of previous technologies. However, these new technologies might also show unintended effects in some possible future, because there is no mechanism available to simply switch off the ambivalence of technology. History also tells us that new technologies aimed at avoiding or minimizing the unintended consequences of previous generations of technology will again bring unintended consequences. An example is the need for scarce metals in many renewable energy provision and storage technologies, which might become a geopolitical problem in some possible future.
Trapped in the past, dealing with the future
Published in Ali Intezari, David Pauleen, Wisdom, Analytics and Wicked Problems, 2018
Instability may be the result of sudden and fundamental changes in the decision situation and the environment where the decision is being made. Instability can also be the result of a lack of enough and/or reliable information during the decision-making process, which may lead the decision maker to interpret and analyse the decision situation inaccurately or even incorrectly. In an unstable environment, the problem and the consequences of any possible solution to the problem become less predictable. Emergent problems and unprecedented issues increase the level of instability (Intezari & Pauleen, 2014). When the complexity of the decision situation increases, the probability of an unrealistic evaluation of the situation increases, and the resultant decisions may lead to unintended consequences.
Ecological Theory in Design
Published in Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Design, 2017
Early ecological theorist Aldo Leopold advocated an extension of ethics to include the natural world. All ethics, according to Leopold, are based on “a single premise: that we are members of a community of interdependent parts” (2001 [1949]: 98). He proposed a simple ethic: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise” (2001, 110). The simplicity of this proposal is appealing but as the impacts of technological innovation, development and design have wide-reaching consequences – ecological ethics are far from simple. Ethical decision making is dependent on institutional, technical and communicative processes that make it possible to anticipate unintended consequences. With extended boundaries of concern, putting ecological ethics into practice is complex and political.
Epos – an instrument for the assessment of the ethical position in software development
Published in Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 2019
Stefan Brandenburg, Michael Minge
Quite a large debate exists as to whether innovation and creativity has a dark side (Cropley 2010) or not (Runco 2010). The dark side of innovation, or ‘negative creativity’ (James 2010), could be associated with unintended consequences of technology use. The multidisciplinary approach of product development and the involvement of users in early stages of design and evaluation activities might be a promising way to anticipate potential sources for intentional misuses as well as for unintentional incorrect use of technology.
Lean-as-imagined differs from lean-as-done: the influence of complexity
Published in Production Planning & Control, 2022
Marlon Soliman, Tarcisio Abreu Saurin
This complexity can give rise to unintended consequences. Thus, there is a need for evaluating the impacts of LP in the long run and on broader systems not limited to the intervention site. This type of evaluation is uncommon in LP studies (Soliman and Saurin 2017).