Ibo van de Poel

The transformation of technological regimes

Abstract This article explores how the transformation of technological regimes is enabled and constrained by sectoral patterns of innovation. Four innovation patterns are distinguished: the supplier-dependent, the user-driven, the mission-oriented and the R&D-dependent innovation pattern. On the basis of a multiple case, it is shown that there are distinct differences between how these four innovation patterns enable and constrain the transformation of technological regimes and in the degree to which they do so. It is further shown that innovation patterns sometimes enable the development and acceptance of innovations that radically deviate from existing regimes and may help to transform such regimes. The implications for the management of technology are discussed.

Sunscreens with Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Nano-Particles: A Societal Experiment

The risks of novel technologies, such as nano(bio)technology cannot be fully assessed due to the existing uncertainties surrounding their introduction into society. Consequently, the introduction of innovative technologies can be conceptualised as a societal experiment, which is a helpful approach to evaluate moral acceptability. This approach is illustrated with the marketing of sunscreens containing nano-sized titanium dioxide (TiO2) particles. We argue that the marketing of this TiO2 nanomaterial in UV protective cosmetics is ethically undesirable, since it violates four reasonable moral conditions for societal experimentation (absence of alternatives, controllability, limited informed consent, and continuing evaluation). To remedy the current way nano-sized TiO2 containing sunscreens are utilised, we suggest five complementing actions (closing the gap, setup monitoring tools, continuing review, designing for safety, and regulative improvements) so that its marketing can become more acceptable.

Modelling infrastructures as socio-technical systems

The conceptualisation of the notion of a system in systems engineering, as exemplified in, for instance, the engineering standard IEEE Std 1220–1998 (1999), is problematic when applied to the design of socio-technical systems. This is argued using Intelligent Transportation Systems as an example. A preliminary conceptualisation of socio-technical systems is introduced which includes technical and social elements and actors, as well as four kinds of relations. Current systems engineering practice incorporates technical elements and actors in the system but sees social elements exclusively as contextual. When designing socio-technical systems, however, social elements and the corresponding relations must also be considered as belonging to the system.

Values in Engineering Design

Publisher Summary The aim of this chapter is to philosophically explore the role of values in engineering design. Value is at the heart of engineering design. Design creates value for companies, users and, ultimately, for society. Value statements are statements about whether certain things or state of affairs are good, i.e. valuable, or bad in a certain respect. If things or states of affairs are bad, they often not only lack value but also even have a negative value. Value statements are to be distinguished from statements of preference, i.e. statements about what individuals prefer. Establishing that something is a value or professing it to be valuable means not only claiming that it is valuable to me but also that it is or should be of value to others. Statements about the value of things or state of affairs are evaluative statements: they evaluate something or a state of affairs in terms of a value. Value statements are therefore to be distinguished from descriptive and prescriptive statements.

Engineering and the problem of moral overload.

When thinking about ethics, technology is often only mentioned as the source of our problems, not as a potential solution to our moral dilemmas. When thinking about technology, ethics is often only mentioned as a constraint on developments, not as a source and spring of innovation. In this paper, we argue that ethics can be the source of technological development rather than just a constraint and technological progress can create moral progress rather than just moral problems. We show this by an analysis of how technology can contribute to the solution of so-called moral overload or moral dilemmas. Such dilemmas typically create a moral residue that is the basis of a second-order principle that tells us to reshape the world so that we can meet all our moral obligations. We can do so, among other things, through guided technological innovation.

Translating Values into Design Requirements

A crucial step in Value Sensitive Design (VSD) is the translation of values into design requirements. However, few research has been done on how this translation can be made. In this contribution, I first consider an example of this translation. I then introduce the notion of values hierarchy, a hierarchy structure of values, norms and design requirements. I discuss the relation of specification, by which values can be translated into design requirements, and the for the sake of relation which connects design requirements to underlying norms and values. I discuss conditions under which a certain specification of values into design requirements is adequate or at least tenable.

The Problem of Many Hands: Climate Change as an Example

In some situations in which undesirable collective effects occur, it is very hard, if not impossible, to hold any individual reasonably responsible. Such a situation may be referred to as the problem of many hands. In this paper we investigate how the problem of many hands can best be understood and why, and when, it exactly constitutes a problem. After analyzing climate change as an example, we propose to define the problem of many hands as the occurrence of a gap in the distribution of responsibility that may be considered morally problematic. Whether a gap is morally problematic, we suggest, depends on the reasons why responsibility is distributed. This, in turn, depends, at least in part, on the sense of responsibility employed, a main distinction being that between backward-looking and forward-looking responsibility.

The Need for Ethical Reflection in Engineering Design The Relevance of Type of Design and Design Hierarchy

The authors explore whether the need for ethical reflection on the part of designing engineers is dependent on the type of design process. They use Vincentis (1992) distinction between normal and ...The authors explore whether the need for ethical reflection on the part of designing engineers is dependent on the type of design process. They use Vincentis (1992) distinction between normal and radical design and different levels of design hierarchy. These two dimensions are coupled with the concept of ill-structured problems, which are problems in which possible solutions cannot be ordered on a scale from better to worse. Design problems are better structured at lower hierarchical levels and in cases of normal design. Better structured design problems require less ethical reflection on the part of designing engineers if such situations are characterized by the existence of generally accepted normative frameworks. Engineers could then deal with moral problems within the bounds of such frameworks and without the need for further reflection. On the basis of a number of empirical cases, the authors explore whether these ideas hold water. They discuss four cases ranging from a high-level radical design process to a low-level normal design process.

Nuclear Energy as a Social Experiment

The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 contains various lessons for how we are to deal with nuclear technology and its risks. The paper will focus, in particular, on the lessons it implies for the predictability of risks of nuclear technology and, ultimately, on how decisions about the acceptability of nuclear energy technology are to be made. More specifically, the paper will argue that due to the experimental nature of nuclear technology, it is hardly possible to reliably predict risks before the technology is actually employed in society. Rather than solely focusing on the acceptability of risks in discussions about the acceptability of nuclear energy, we therefore better recognize the experimental nature of such technology from the start. The question can then be asked: under what conditions are social experiments with nuclear energy acceptable?

Reflective Equilibrium in R & D Networks

In this article, we develop an approach for the moral assessment of research and development (R & D) networks on the basis of the reflective equilibrium approach proposed by Rawls and Daniels. The reflective equilibrium approach aims at coherence between moral judgments, principles, and background theories. We use this approach because it takes seriously the moral judgments of the actors involved in R & D, whereas it also leaves room for critical reflection about these judgments. It is shown that two norms, namely reflective learning and openness and inclusiveness, which are used in the literature on policy and technological networks, contribute to achieving a justified overlapping consensus. We apply the approach to a case study about the development of an innovative sewage treatment technology and show how in this case the two norms are or could be instrumental in achieving a justified overlapping consensus on relevant moral issues.