ABSTRACT

The development and introduction of a new technology to society can be viewed as an experimental process, full of uncertainties, which are only gradually reduced as the technology is employed. Unexpected developments may trigger an experimental process in which society must find new ways to deal with the uncertainties posed.

This book explores how the experimental perspective determines what ethical issues new technologies raise and how it helps morally evaluate their introduction. Expert contributors highlight the uncertainties that accompany the process, identify the social and ethical challenges they give rise to, and propose strategies to manage them.

Focusing on the introduction of new technologies and experimentation as ways to perceive new developments and changing contexts, a key theme of the book is how to approach the moral issues raised by new technology and understand the role of experimentation in exploring these matters.

chapter |15 pages

Introduction

chapter 4|23 pages

The theatrical debate

Experimenting with technologies on stage

chapter 5|22 pages

Social learning in the bioeconomy

The Ecover case

chapter 6|24 pages

Cognitive enhancement

A social experiment with technology

chapter 7|30 pages

Living a real-world experiment

Post-Fukushima imaginaries and spatial practices of “containing the nuclear”

chapter 8|20 pages

“Dormant parasites”

Testing beyond the laboratory in Uganda’s malaria control program

chapter 9|23 pages

Experimenting with ICT technologies in youth care

Jeugdzorg in the Netherlands