BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

ETHICS OF TECHNOLOGY CREATION 1)4)

← Back

This very important issue does not yet seem to be considered with a sufficiently serious attention.

To all of the technological developments of the 20 century, the following words of A. BEDAU can be applied: "The development of a powerful new technology usually has ethical consequences. Atomic fission and fusion provide examples from recent history, and today genetic engineering threatens to teach us this lesson again. The havoc wreaked by computer "viruses"and "worms"provide ample evidence of the destructive power of artificial life technologies; precautions must be taken against their accidental misuse and intentional abuse"(1996)

Bedau could have cited numerous other examples: military uses of aircrafts, uncontrolled use of pesticides, imprudent use of antibiotics, etc.

In fact, the issue is very complex:

1) The discoverer generally feels that he is making a very positive contribution, specially if he/she is a scientist

2) He/she quickly loses control on the derived technologies

3) Psychological and sociological factors (greed, lust for power, and even pure irrresponsability) introduce undesirable and unethical deviations in the technological applications

4) When the "genie already escaped from the bottle" there is usually no way to put it back in it.

The subject should deserve a systemic inquiry into the deeper mechanisms of the whole process using for example models like small-world propagation, bottom-up and top-down processes, competition, awareness, norms and values.

The crucial question mark seems to be:

- Why is there such a difference between what ought to be and what happens in fact?

- What could be done about unexpected side effects and delayed effects?

- How could personal responsability be enhanced by social education, i.e. how could individuals be made fitter as members of their society?

- What could be done to better forecasts about technological side effects?

- What kinds of regulations and/or controls could societies establish to avoid negative effects of technologies?

…and how to avoid in turn, negative effects of these legal (or other) devices?

And last, but not least, how could ethical or unethical behaviors derived from technology be accuratelyt assessed and valued, and by which social arbiters?

In short, this issue is overriding and a major systemic issue

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint