Skip to main content
Erschienen in: NanoEthics 3/2018

08.11.2018 | Original Paper

Retooling Techno-Moral Scenarios. A Revisited Technique for Exploring Alternative Regimes of Responsibility for Human Enhancement

verfasst von: Simone Arnaldi

Erschienen in: NanoEthics | Ausgabe 3/2018

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

The techno-moral scenarios (TMS) approach has been developed to explore the interplay between technology, society and morality. Focused on new and emerging sciences and technologies, techno-moral scenarios can be used to inform and enhance public deliberation on the desirability of socio-technical trajectories. The article presents an attempt to hybridise this scenario tool, complementing the focus on ethics with an explicit acknowledgement of the multiple meanings of responsibility and of the plurality of its regimes, i.e. the institutional arrangements presiding over the assumption and assignment of responsibilities. We call this integrated technique ‘rTMS’ to stress the continuity with the original technique and, at the same time, to highlight the additional element we aim to develop: responsibility. The article describes this approach and illustrates a loosely standardised procedure that can be used to organise and conduct public engagement workshops based on rTMS.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Fußnoten
1
Boenink, Swierstra and Stemerding define morality as “the set of values and norms that a specific community considers very important, because they refer to legitimate interests, mutual obligations and/or views of the good life. Although the precise boundaries of this set may be contested, morality largely exists in the form of implicit beliefs, routines and practices”. Morality is different from ethics, which is “the reflection and debate on the relevance and status of (parts of) morality; ethics, that is, is reflexive morality. […] [A]nyone questioning or debating moral values and /or norms engages in ethical activity” ( [11], 3).
 
2
There is a second, narrower connection between responsibility and the TMS literature. Stemerding [14] and Douglas and Stemerding [15] use TMS in the framework of responsible research and innovation (RRI). RRI is an approach to science and innovation governance developed mainly in the European Union (EU) policy environment, which pursues the alignment of research and innovation activities with societal goals and needs by way of participatory approaches fostering the mutual responsibilisation of science and innovation actors ( [16, 17]). In this context, TMS are used to foster the moral imagination of researchers as a preliminary step to begin a dialogue with societal stakeholders to explore the social and needs priorities that can be responded to by research.
 
3
“It should be stressed that the distinction between hard and soft impacts is not neutral or descriptive. Instead, it is a largely rhetorical distinction brought into play by one group of powerful players (policymakers and technology actors) for practical – or strategic – purposes” ( [13], 7).
 
4
This section is based on Arnaldi and Gorgoni [30]. See also Gorgoni, in this journal issue, for a very similar, but not identical, description of responsibility paradigms [31].
 
5
We follow Gorgoni in naming these four responsibility paradigms. However, this author has argued that the features of RRI reflect a broader understanding of responsibility that is rooted in a specific political-economic framework, namely neoliberalism [30]. The term ‘responsibilisation’ has been used to describe the definition of responsibility typical of this political-economic context and might well be used to label the fourth paradigm identified by Gorgoni [37].
 
6
For a general appraisal of vignettes in social science research, see Hughes and Huby [42].
 
7
For an example of a video scenario, see, for example: https://​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​xGQ6Cp1dC4c (accessed September 15, 2018).
 
8
To conduct a rTMS exercise, the facilitator can use material aids and tools, such as cards and a ‘game’ board, that can prompt and support the conversation among the workshop participants. In this article, we do not present these details for the sake of clarity and due to limited space.
 
9
The distinction is based on the work of Talcott Parsons [43]. Socialisation refers to the incorporation of values and norms in the psychological structure of individuals; institutionalisation refers to the incorporation of select normative models in the social system of incentives and sanctions.
 
10
Personas are built upon research data on users and, more generally, social groups and strata. Due to the mock nature of the scenario presented in this article, which was used for testing the procedure with students, the features of the persona who is the scenario protagonist were arbitrarily decided by the author.
 
11
This scenario is based on the work of the students of the Galilean School of Advanced Studies of Padova University (Italy), in which rTMS were first tested in may 2017. The classroom discussion and the scenario moved from the mission of Elon Musk’s start-up ‘Neuralink’. The company plans to build a ‘neural lace’, a brain-computer interface technology enabling bi-directional communication between the human brain and computers. The goal of Musk’s venture is to allow humans to run external digital devices and fast download and upload information and data from/to computers to improve their cognitive performance in areas such as memory and information processing. There are many news articles describing Neuralink’s goals (e.g., [46]) and critiquing the feasibility of Musk’s ideas (e.g., [47]).
 
12
This distinction has the same pragmatic logic as the differentiation of cooperative/competitive social relations in Step 1.
 
13
While this article applies rTMS to HE, the application perimeter of this technique is not limited to this subject and covers the ‘soft impacts’ of new and emerging technologies in general, rather than of specific domains.
 
Literatur
1.
Zurück zum Zitat Sauter A, Gerlinger K (2014) The pharmacologically improved human: performance-enhancing substances as a social Challenge BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt Sauter A, Gerlinger K (2014) The pharmacologically improved human: performance-enhancing substances as a social Challenge BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt
2.
Zurück zum Zitat Kass LR (2003) Ageless bodies, happy souls: biotechnology and the pursuit of perfection. The New Atlantis 1:9–28 Kass LR (2003) Ageless bodies, happy souls: biotechnology and the pursuit of perfection. The New Atlantis 1:9–28
3.
Zurück zum Zitat Sandel MJ (2009) The case against perfection: ethics in the age of genetic engineering. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Sandel MJ (2009) The case against perfection: ethics in the age of genetic engineering. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
5.
Zurück zum Zitat McVeigh J, Evans-Brown M, Bellis MA (2012) Human enhancement drugs and the pursuit of perfection. Adicciones 24:185–190CrossRef McVeigh J, Evans-Brown M, Bellis MA (2012) Human enhancement drugs and the pursuit of perfection. Adicciones 24:185–190CrossRef
6.
Zurück zum Zitat Fukuyama F (2003) Our posthuman future: consequences of the biotechnology revolution. Profile Books, London Fukuyama F (2003) Our posthuman future: consequences of the biotechnology revolution. Profile Books, London
7.
Zurück zum Zitat Harris J (2011) Enhancing evolution: the ethical case for making better people. Princeton University Press, Princeton Harris J (2011) Enhancing evolution: the ethical case for making better people. Princeton University Press, Princeton
8.
Zurück zum Zitat Savulescu J, Sandberg A, Kahane G (2014) Well-being and enhancement. In: Savulescu J, Meulen RHJ ter, Kahane G (eds) Enhancing human capacities. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, p 1–18 Savulescu J, Sandberg A, Kahane G (2014) Well-being and enhancement. In: Savulescu J, Meulen RHJ ter, Kahane G (eds) Enhancing human capacities. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, p 1–18
9.
Zurück zum Zitat Bostrom N, Roache R (2011) Smart policy: cognitive enhancement in the public interest. In: Savulescu J, Meulen RHJ ter, Kahane G (eds) Enhancing human capacities. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, p 138–149CrossRef Bostrom N, Roache R (2011) Smart policy: cognitive enhancement in the public interest. In: Savulescu J, Meulen RHJ ter, Kahane G (eds) Enhancing human capacities. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, p 138–149CrossRef
11.
12.
Zurück zum Zitat Swierstra T, Stemerding D, Boenink M (2009) Exploring techno-moral change: the case of the ObesityPill. In: Sollie P, Düwell M (eds) Evaluating new technologies. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 119–138CrossRef Swierstra T, Stemerding D, Boenink M (2009) Exploring techno-moral change: the case of the ObesityPill. In: Sollie P, Düwell M (eds) Evaluating new technologies. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp 119–138CrossRef
16.
Zurück zum Zitat von Schomberg R (2013) A vision of responsible research and innovation. In: Owen R, Bessant J, Heintz M (eds) Responsible Innovation. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, pp 51–74CrossRef von Schomberg R (2013) A vision of responsible research and innovation. In: Owen R, Bessant J, Heintz M (eds) Responsible Innovation. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, pp 51–74CrossRef
18.
Zurück zum Zitat Wack P (1985) Scenarios: shooting the rapids. Harv Bus Rev:139–150 Wack P (1985) Scenarios: shooting the rapids. Harv Bus Rev:139–150
23.
Zurück zum Zitat Barbieri Masini E (1993) Why futures studies? Grey Seal, London Barbieri Masini E (1993) Why futures studies? Grey Seal, London
25.
Zurück zum Zitat Est R van, Rerimassie V, Keulen I van, et al (2014) Intimate technology: the battle for our body and behaviour. Rathenau Institute, The Hague Est R van, Rerimassie V, Keulen I van, et al (2014) Intimate technology: the battle for our body and behaviour. Rathenau Institute, The Hague
26.
Zurück zum Zitat Luhmann N (2005) Risk: a sociological theory. Aldine Transaction, New Brunswick Luhmann N (2005) Risk: a sociological theory. Aldine Transaction, New Brunswick
29.
Zurück zum Zitat Boenink M (2010) Imagining the future: how vignettes and scenarios might improve ethical reflection on synthetic biology for health purposes. In: Szebik I. (ed) Ethics and clinical applications of synthetic biology: an interdisciplinary dialogue. SYBHEL project, Bilbao, p 55–64 Boenink M (2010) Imagining the future: how vignettes and scenarios might improve ethical reflection on synthetic biology for health purposes. In: Szebik I. (ed) Ethics and clinical applications of synthetic biology: an interdisciplinary dialogue. SYBHEL project, Bilbao, p 55–64
32.
Zurück zum Zitat Vincent NA (2011) A structured taxonomy of responsibility concepts. In: Vincent NA, van de Poel I, van den Hoven J (eds) Moral responsibility. Springer, Dordrecht, p 15–35 Vincent NA (2011) A structured taxonomy of responsibility concepts. In: Vincent NA, van de Poel I, van den Hoven J (eds) Moral responsibility. Springer, Dordrecht, p 15–35
33.
Zurück zum Zitat Hart HLA (2008) Punishment and responsibility: essays in the philosophy of law. Oxford University Press, OxfordCrossRef Hart HLA (2008) Punishment and responsibility: essays in the philosophy of law. Oxford University Press, OxfordCrossRef
38.
Zurück zum Zitat Arnaldi S, Bianchi L (2016) Responsibility in science and technology. Elements of a social theory. Springer VS, WiesbadenCrossRef Arnaldi S, Bianchi L (2016) Responsibility in science and technology. Elements of a social theory. Springer VS, WiesbadenCrossRef
43.
Zurück zum Zitat Parsons T (1991) The social system. Free Press, New York Parsons T (1991) The social system. Free Press, New York
44.
Zurück zum Zitat Madsen S, Nielsen L (2010) Exploring persona-scenarios - using storytelling to create design ideas. In: Katre D, Orngreen R, Yammiyavar P, Clemmensen T (eds) Human work interaction design: usability in social, cultural and organizational contexts. Springer, Berlin, pp 57–66CrossRef Madsen S, Nielsen L (2010) Exploring persona-scenarios - using storytelling to create design ideas. In: Katre D, Orngreen R, Yammiyavar P, Clemmensen T (eds) Human work interaction design: usability in social, cultural and organizational contexts. Springer, Berlin, pp 57–66CrossRef
45.
Zurück zum Zitat Milne S (2009) Scenarios and personas: towards a methodology for portraying the carbon intensity of UK lifestyles to 2030, Scott Milne, RESOLVE working paper 06–09. University of Surrey Milne S (2009) Scenarios and personas: towards a methodology for portraying the carbon intensity of UK lifestyles to 2030, Scott Milne, RESOLVE working paper 06–09. University of Surrey
Metadaten
Titel
Retooling Techno-Moral Scenarios. A Revisited Technique for Exploring Alternative Regimes of Responsibility for Human Enhancement
verfasst von
Simone Arnaldi
Publikationsdatum
08.11.2018
Verlag
Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in
NanoEthics / Ausgabe 3/2018
Print ISSN: 1871-4757
Elektronische ISSN: 1871-4765
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-018-0329-6

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 3/2018

NanoEthics 3/2018 Zur Ausgabe