The Ethics of Invention: Technology and the Human Future

by Sheila Jasanoff

Sheila Jasanoff charts society's embrace of technological solutions and technology's complex interplay with ethics and human rights. She dissects the ways in which we delegate power to technological systems and asks how we might regain control. From GMOs to gene therapy, biomedicine has challenged traditional definitions of life and death and raised difficult questions, such as who owns our genetic information. The Internet has redefined privacy with social media and search giants operating as new, all-powerful "data oligarchs", while cyber warfare has weakened the boundaries of the nation-state. Jasanoff shows that, far from being an amoral or apolitical force, technology has important consequences for government of, by and for the people. The Ethics of Invention challenges us to build a future in which we work in open, democratic dialogue to manage the risks and promises of technology.

• ISBN10: 039307899X
• ISBN13: 9780393078992
• Publish Date: 30 September 2016 (first published 30 August 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: WW Norton & Co
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Initial thoughts: The intersection between technology and humanity has fascinated me for a long time, especially from the standpoint for philosophy and sociology. Naturally, The Ethics of Invention caught my eye due to the subtitle Technology and the Human Future. I get that in order to talk about the future, you first need to revisit the past and consider the present. Unfortunately, these took over so much of the book that there wasn't a lot of space left for the future. In fact, it's only in the concluding chapter that the author discusses the triad of technology, humanity and ethics.

To be fair, I found that last chapter to be very engaging and the author clearly knew her material. It's the organisation and choice of what information to include to the exclusion of others that left me not entirely impressed. I enjoyed the critical analysis and also hearing about the author's opinions; they just didn't span the entire book as the book title suggested should be the case. I could've skipped right to the conclusion for the content that truly addressed the heart of the matter.