ABSTRACT

Modern technology has changed the way we live, work, play, communicate, fight, love, and die. Yet few works have systematically explored these changes in light of their implications for individual and social welfare. How can we conceptualize and evaluate the influence of technology on human well-being? Bringing together scholars from a cross-section of disciplines, this volume combines an empirical investigation of technology and its social, psychological, and political effects, and a philosophical analysis and evaluation of the implications of such effects.

chapter |11 pages

Introduction

part I|39 pages

Mapping the Landscape

part II|91 pages

Theoretical Approaches

chapter 3|22 pages

Quality of Life in a Technological Society

A Macrosociological Approach

chapter 4|15 pages

Capabilities and Technology

chapter 5|17 pages

Happiness and Meaning in a Technological Age

A Psychological Approach

chapter 6|22 pages

The Ambivalence of the Good Life

Happiness, Economics, Technology, and Relational Goods 1

chapter 7|13 pages

Desire-Satisfactionism and Technology

part III|46 pages

Consumer Products and Well-Being

chapter 10|13 pages

Consumption and Sustainability

A Neo-Epicurean Approach to a Sustainable Good Life in a Technological Age 1

part IV|47 pages

Information Technology and Well-Being

chapter 12|10 pages

New Social Media and the Virtues 1

chapter 13|12 pages

Web 2.0

Community as Commodity?

chapter 14|10 pages

Types of Internet Use, Well-Being, and the Good Life

Ethical Views from Prudential Psychology

chapter 15|13 pages

Virtually Good?

Disclosing the Presuppositions Behind the Claimed Inferiority of Virtual Worlds

part V|54 pages

Medical and Agricultural Technology and Well-Being

chapter 16|10 pages

What's Wrong with Techno Food?

chapter 17|9 pages

Human Enhancement and Well-Being

chapter 18|12 pages

On Hubris and Hybrids

Ascesis and the Ethics of Technology

chapter 19|9 pages

Brave New World

Platonism 2.0

part VI|60 pages

Technology Design and Policy

chapter 21|12 pages

Can We Design for Well-Being?

chapter 23|11 pages

Science Policy and the Expectation of Health

The Case for Reforming Peer Review at the National Institutes of Health

chapter 24|12 pages

Neutrality and Technology

Ortega Y Gasset on the Good Life