바이오인

 

 

Executive Summary..................... 5

I. Introduction: Technology, Ethics and Government.....................  9
  Technology and Society
  Ethics and the Functions of Government
  The National Nanotechnology Initiative and the “Other” Social and Ethical Issues
  About this Report

II. Ethics and Emerging Nanotechnologies..................... 13
   Ethics as Restraint and Aspiration
   Roles of Ethics in Responsible Development
   Ethical Issues vs. Ethical Implications

 

III. Three Misconceptions about the Social and Ethical Isues.....................16
    Too Soon to Tell
    The Inevitable Goodness of the Nanotechnology Revolution
    The Point Is to Secure Public Acceptance

IV. Typology of the Isues.....................21
    Social Context Issues
    Contested Moral Issues
    Technoculture Issues
    Form of Life Issues
    Transformational Issues

V. Social Context Isues..................... 25
    Scenario: Manufacturing Nanotechnology
    Environmental Justice
    The Issue: Environmental Justice and Nanotechnology
    Addressing Environmental Injustice
    Beyond Environmental Justice
    Comments on Social Context Issues

VI. Contested Moral Isues..................... 31
    Scenario: Research at the Boundaries of Life Forms
    Research on Novel Life Forms
    The Issue: The Sanctity of Life Forms?
    Beyond the Sanctity of Life Forms
    Comments on Contested Moral Issues

VII. Technoculture Isues..................... 31
    Scenario: Nanotechnology, Genomics and Asthma in Upper Manhattan
    The Techno-Fix
    The Issue: Nanotechnology as Techno-Fix?
    Beyond the Techno-Fix
    Comments on Technoculture Issues

VIII. Form of Life Isues..................... 43
    Scenario: Virtual Socialization
    Virtual Reality
    The Issue: Virtual Reality and Sociability
    Beyond Virtual Reality and Sociability
    Comments on Form of Life Issues

IX. Transformational Isues..................... 48
    Scenario: Cognitive Enhancement
    On the Threshold of (Radical) Human Enhancement?
    Social and Ethical Dimensions of Radical Human Enhancement
    The Issue: Transformational Dimensions of Radical Human Enhancement
    Beyond Radical Human Enhancement
    Comments on Transformational Issues

X. Conclusion: The Opportunity.....................  55
REFERENCES.....................  57
ACKNOWLEDGMENTs.....................  59

 

 

 

Too often, discussions about the social and ethical issues surrounding new technologies are treated as afterthoughts, or worse still, as potential roadblocks to innovation. The ethical discussions are relegated to the end of scientific conferences, outsourced to social scientists, or generally marginalized in the policymaking process.

The goal of this paper by Ron Sandler of Northeastern University is to clearly place social and ethical issues within ongoing debates on the responsible development of nanotechnologies.

The paper presents a broad framework to structure the analysis and discussion of ethical issues, which builds on improving our understanding of the social, cultural, and moral context of emerging technologies and assessing the status of these issues as the technologies evolve.

The author takes on some of the common misconceptions that undermine our ability to address social and ethical issues early and effectively, such as the “it’s too early to discuss ethics” excuse and the tendency to frame new technologies in terms of their inevitability (and inevitable good). The paper highlights, through theory and research linked to case studies, a wide variety of possible social and ethical issues linked to emerging nanotechnologies, ranging from environmental justice to human enhancement and the myth of the techno-fix—our tendency to favor technological fixes to problems rather than behavioral changes or other major shifts. Indeed, the framework outlined in this paper can be applied to a wide variety of emerging technologies.

Every emerging technology offers us a new opportunity to engage stakeholders in a social and ethical debate. The nanotech revolution is still beginning and we still have time for an open and public discussion of its consequences, both intended and unintended. Hopefully,
this paper will provide a framework for thinking through some of those impacts.