ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the idea that the introduction of a new technology into society amounts to a social experiment. It suggests that turning tacit experimentation into explicit and deliberate experiments might not be enough to make it a responsible or an ethically acceptable mode of experimentation. The book reveals that the current debates on safety and ethical analyses of cognitive enhancement technologies frame the problem as one of medical safety, thereby neglecting the potential social consequences. It proposes a methodology for the design and regulation of technologies to improve prediction, evaluation, and goal-setting and emphasize the need for critical self-reflection when embarking on the social experimentation. The book identifies ways in which people were subjected to uncertain technological, social, and scientific interventions in the experiment of Fukushima's nuclear clean-up and containment.
