Ethics of technology is a subfield of Ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the Technology Age. Some prominent works of philosopherHans Jonas are devoted to ethics of technology.
Technology itself is incapable of possessing moral or ethical qualities, since "technology" is merely tool making. Thus, "ethics of technology" refers instead to two basic subdivisions.
The ethics involved in the development of new technology -- whether it is always, never, or contextually right or wrong to invent and implement a technological innovation.
The ethical questions that are exacerbated by the ways in which technology extends or curtails the power of individuals -- how standard ethical questions are changed by the new powers.
In the former case, ethics of such things as computer security and computer viruses asks whether the very act of innovation is an ethically right or wrong act. Similarly, does a scientist have an ethical obligation to produce or fail to produce a nuclear weapon? What are the ethical questions surrounding the production of technologies that waste or conserve energy and resources? What are the ethical questions surrounding the production of new manufacturing processes that might inhibit employment, or might inflict suffering in the third world?
In the latter case, the ethics of technology quickly break down into the ethics of various human endeavors as they are altered by new technologies. For example, bio-ethics is now largely consumed with questions that have been exacerbated by the new life-preserving technologies, new cloning technologies, and new technologies for implantation. In law, the right of privacy is being continually attenuated by the emergence of new forms of surveillance and anonymity. The old ethical questions of privacy and free speech are given new shape and urgency in an Internet age. Such tracing devices as RFID, biometric analysis and identification, genetic screening, all take old ethical questions and amplify their import.
References
Hans Jonas: The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of Ethics for the Technological Age (1979)
Hans Jonas: On Technology, Medicine and Ethics (1985)
Under the heading of "Ethics and Technology" the office seeks to assist the communion in addressing ethical challenges posed by the global environmental crisis and by the implications of the emergence of new and powerful technologies, particularly in the area of biotechnology.
During that conference the bishops asked for the formation of a new commission to look at the ethical implications of the new technologies, they also passed motions asking for more work to be done to address global environmental problems.
Surveys were undertaken to see which of the issues raised by new and emerging technologies might best be addressed at the communion level.
It is an interdisciplinary work involving critical and gender studies of science and technology, communications studies, social studies of technology, information systems, and computer ethics.
Considering first the question of what technology is, Dusek goes on to address a wide range of concerns, including technocracy, technological rationality, technological determinism, and varieties of resistance to technology.
"Technology for Inclusion is an extremely practical, comprehensive survey of professional practices needed by teachers to meet the technology needs of their students." This book is designed for hands-on practitioners, whether beginners or advanced users.
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