The Social and Value

Dimensions of Technology
Presented by: Group 5

- Delos Santos, Mark Angelo

- Casuga, Christian
- Sagum, Lee Jhon Llyod
- Recarro, Louie Andrew
 Main Ideas in this Chapter:
 Technology is embedded in a social context and both influences and is
influenced by the larger society.
 Engineers should take a critical attitude toward technology, appreciating and
taking pride in its benefits while being aware of the problems it can create.
 Computer technology illustrates the benefits that technology can confer as
well as the social policy issues that one type of technology can raise.
 Engineering design often raises social and ethical issues that engineers must
address and shows how engineering is a kind of social experimentation.
 Troy, Lisa, and Paul were engineering students at a prominent North American university. Troy
and Lisa were graduate students, and Paul was an undergraduate. They were chosen for a study
of the attitudes of engineering students toward the social dimension of engineering because they
had shown interest in topics such as the effect of technology on workers, especially with regard
to occupational health and safety. Yet even these students had difficulties integrating such
concerns into their engineering studies. Commenting on a class that focused on the humanistic
aspects of technology, Troy remarked, ‘‘We’ve got enough to worry about [as engineers] and
now we’ve got to worry about this.’’ On the final exam of a course on technology and society, he
wrote to the teaching assistant, ‘‘My life was great until I met you.’’
 Commenting on the same topic, Lisa said, My engineering education didn’t give me really a political
context, and it sort of denied a political context by denoting that everything was objective and
quantifiable and could be sort of foreseen. And if it couldn’t be foreseen, we didn’t measure it and we
didn’t take account of it. There was a difference in how these three students perceived the introduction
of the social and humanistic elements into their thinking as engineers. Paul saw the socially oriented
view as an extension of his engineering education. Lisa perceived a fundamental conflict between what
she learned in engineering class and the social and humanistic orientation. Troy fluctuated between the
views of Paul and Lisa.
Troy and Lisa spoke of a moment when the importance of the social and humanistic dimension of
engineering ‘‘just hit me’’ (Troy) or ‘‘sort of clicked with me’’ (Lisa). Before that time, they could make
no sense of what their teachers and project leaders were telling them about the social context of
engineering. After that moment of insight, they had a foothold on the broader perspective.
Dr. Wulf believed that at 21st century:

“The greatest challenge may be engineering ethics. Specifically, he argued

that the issues may not be as much problems for individual engineers (what
he called ‘‘microethical’’ issues) but, rather, issues of social policy
regarding technology (what he called ‘‘macroethical’’ issues)”.
“Micro ethical” Issues
- Concerned with individuals and internal relations of the engineering profession.

“Macro ethical” Issues

- Concerned with the collective, social responsibility of the engineering profession
and societal decisions about technology.
What is Technology?

- It’s the making and using of tools. Humans often been called tool making beings.
- technology is the application of science to the solution of practical problems.
- It is the best understood as a system composed of physical objects and tools,
knowledge, inventors, operators, repair people, managers, government regulators
and others.

The philosophy of technology is a sub-discipline in philosophy that

comprises the results of philosophical reflection on the nature, effects, and
evaluation of technology.
 Technological Determinism

-Holds that technological development has a life of its own, an internal logic that
cannot be controlled by individual humans or even the whole society.
-A technology that can be developed usually will be developed, and a technology
that can be put to some use almost always will be put to that use.
 Technological Optimism
-Technological optimism is the view that the effects of technology on human
well-being are almost altogether good.
-Technology enables us to provide for our basic needs and even some luxuries,
and it does so without our having to spend all of our waking hours merely trying
to survive.
-Even if technology does have some negative effects, such as pollution and harm
to the environment, the overall effects of technology are overwhelmingly on the
positive side.
 Technological Pessimism
Technological pessimism takes a more
negative view of the effects of technology on
human life
Even though many technological pessimists
say they do not want to be as simply against
technology, there are much more likely to point
out the undesirable aspects of technological
development
 The first theme is that technology is associated with a dominating , controlling
frame of mind, obsessed with achieving ever efficiency, that harms the
environment and obscures certain aspects of human experience, especially the
aesthetic and spiritual aspects.

A second theme of technological pessimism is that technology tends to fragment

human experience and thus destroy the much that we do
 Computer Technology : Privacy and Social Policy

We can begin by examining an area in which

technology, although undoubtedly bestowing some
great benefits on society, raises some problems for
social policy. The technology is computing, and the
social policy issues have to do with privacy and the
ownership of computing software.
 Finding a Creative Middle Way

•The existence of data systems containing personal information

should be public knowledge

•Personal information should be collective for narrow, specific

purposes for its collection

•Personal information should be collected only with the informed

consent of the persons about whom the information is collected or
their legal representatives

•Personal information should not shared with third parties without

notice or consent those about whom the information is collected

•To ensure accuracy, the time information can be stored should be

limited, and individuals should be permitted to review the
information and correct errors

•Those who collect personal date should ensure the security and
integrity of personal data system
 Should Software Be Protected?

 Computer programs are often worth a lot of money in the marketplace

 2 justifications that the software must be protected

 Utilitarian One

 Labor Theory Ownership

 A Utilitarian One

It promotes the progress of technology. The U.S. Constitution gives a utilitarian argument of this type when it authorizes Congress

‘‘to promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right

to their respective writings and discoveries. There is a factual disagreement on what policy most effectively promotes

the growth of technology. There is also a utilitarian argument of a different kind

against granting legal protection to software granting legal protection tends to increase the priceand may reduce the quality of

software because competition is limited or reduced.

 Labor Theory of Ownership.

This view starts with the idea that the first and most important thing we own is our own body. We can, however, ‘‘mix’’ the labor of

our bodies with other things in nature that are unowned or purchased from the former owners and thereby establish our ownership

of them as well. For example, if a pioneer clears unowned land and plants crops on it, he has mixed his labor with the land and can

claim ownership of it. Similarly, if a person begins with basic ideas of science and logic that are common property and thus in a

sense unowned, and then adds to them her intellectual labor so that she produces a new computer program, then she may lay claim

to ownership of that program. She has mixed her labor with unowned property to produce the program and therefore may

legitimately claim to ‘‘own’’ the program. In a slight modification of this story, if she mixes her intellectual labor with the

intellectual property of others that she has the right to use

 How Software Should Be Protected?

 Two principal options have been proposed for protecting intellectual property: copyrights and patents.

 The peculiar nature of software, however, makes both of these options problematic. Software does not fit the paradigm or

typical case of either something that should be copyrighted or something that should be patented. In some ways, software is

like a ‘‘work of authorship’’ and should be appropriate for copyright.

 . A program is, after all, written in a ‘‘language’’ and has a logical sequence like a story or a play
Table
THE SOCIAL EMBEDDEDNESS

OF

TECHNOLOGY
The Social Interaction of Technology and society

So far, we have considered primarily the influence of technology on society and the social policy
issues that such influence creates. However, in contrast to technological determinism, most scholars
believe that social forces also influence the direction of technological development so that the truth
seems to be that there is two-way causal interaction between technology and society:
Technology
Influences
Society
Society Influences

the Development

of Technology
Agricultural Machinery
Transportation
 From the commonsense standpoint, this may be the most plausible
position. There are many examples that influences on technology.

Examples:

 social
 political
 economic
Science and Technology Studies:

Opening the Black Box

of Technology
 Many traditional engineering ethics cases give short descriptions and then identify a
decision point at the end of the case where an engineer has to make a crucial decision.
Even many of the more extended descriptions, such as the description of the Challenger
case, often focus primarily on what we might call an ‘‘endpoint decision.’’ In the
Challenger case, the decision point was the teleconference the night before the launch, in
which Roger Boisjoly and other engineers attempted to get Morton Thiokol to hold to
their no-launch recommendation. STS researchers contrast his approach, which might
also be called the ‘‘externalist’’ account of a case, to what we might call a ‘‘process’’
account, in which various points throughout the case can be identified in which ethical
issues arise. Since this approach focuses on points throughout the narrative, it is also
sometimes called an internalist account.
HOW SHALL WE DESIGN?
Ethical Issues in Design

In pursuing the internalist program, STS researchers have often focused on

design as a crucial stage of development in which value issues can arise where either
decisions are made that affect society or social forces have affected the course of
design. A study by two researchers from The Netherlands illustrates how issues for
ethical reflection arise in the design process.39 Following another scholar, W. G.
Vincinti, they identify two types of design challenges.40 Without going into the
elaborate classification they use, we present some of their examples.
Designing for the Environment and for Human Community

Some critics of technology have noted that these features may not be essential to technology itself.
Technologies can be designed that stress sustainability, the use of renewable resources, and minimal pollution.
Technologies can also serve to promote human community rather than fracture it. If modern technology destroys or
makes irrelevant such traditional focal things as the fireplace, it can replace them by others. Computerized networks
for those with AIDS or with a thousand other interests can provide a focus for activities. Urban and housing design
can provide humane living spaces that allow greater access to others and to the natural world. Running shoes and
backpacking equipment can enable us to again establish access to the natural world. The advance of technology does
not necessarily destroy values that we consider of great importance, such as a relationship to the natural world and
focused human activities. It does, however, change the forms and contexts in which these activities take place. It is
not too much to ask engineers to think about these issues, as many engineers are certainly doing. Such thought can
lead to creative designs and a more humanly satisfying life.
Conclusion:

Engineering as
Social Experiment
There are several analogies between engineering and experimentation
 First, engineering works—whether consumer products, bridges, or buildings—have
experimental subjects, like scientific experiments. In engineering, however, the subjects
are the public who utilize the products of engineering.

 Second, as in any experiment, there is always an element of uncertainty about the outcome.
Engineers never know for sure how well a new automobile will perform on the road, or whether a
new building will withstand a hurricane. Yet, there is a necessity of gaining new knowledge,
which can only come by experimentation. Only by innovation can technology advance.

 Third, like experimenters, engineers must assume responsibility for their experiments. They
must think about the possible consequences, both good and bad, and attempt to eliminate as
many bad consequences as possible.