It is quite clear from the above discussion that at present time human life has become totally dependent on science and technology. Science has contributed to every aspects of our life and has become one of the basic human necessities for existence. We believe that, to satisfy all human physical needs, novel inventions will always get their ways to the future.
A simplistic and totalitarian manifesto for unbridled technological progress at best, totally consistent with scientism's dream of a futureworld dominated by machines and sterile mechanistic thinking.
OTOH let us consider the subtleties of "ethics in technology". Surely even in all your unabashed cheerleading of science and technology, these issues were not totally lost on you:
"Ethics in technology is a sub-field of
ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the
Technology Age. Some prominent works of
philosopher Hans Jonas are devoted to ethics of technology. It is often held that technology itself is incapable of possessing moral or ethical qualities, since "technology" is merely tool making. But many now believe that each piece of technology is endowed with and radiating ethical commitments all the time, given to it by those that made it, and those that decided how it must be made and used. Whether merely a lifeless amoral 'tool' or a solidified embodiment of human values "ethics of technology" refers 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,
bioethics 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 significance."===
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_of_technology
