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

ByAdam Briggle, Philip Brey, Edward Spence

part I|39 pages

Mapping the Landscape

chapter 1|20 pages

Well-Being in Philosophy, Psychology, and Economics

ByPhilip Brey

chapter 2|17 pages

Theorizing Technology

ByCarl Mitcham, Adam Briggle

part II|91 pages

Theoretical Approaches

chapter 3|22 pages

Quality of Life in a Technological Society

A Macrosociological Approach
ByRuut Veenhoven

chapter 4|15 pages

Capabilities and Technology

ByJustine Johnstone

chapter 5|17 pages

Happiness and Meaning in a Technological Age

A Psychological Approach
ByMichael Steger, Joo Yeon Shin

chapter 6|22 pages

The Ambivalence of the Good Life

Happiness, Economics, Technology, and Relational Goods1
ByLuigino Bruni

chapter 7|13 pages

Desire-Satisfactionism and Technology

ByAnton Tupa

part III|46 pages

Consumer Products and Well-Being

chapter 8|10 pages

Consuming Happiness

ByLindsey Patterson, Robert Biswas-Diener

chapter 9|11 pages

Thinking Through Consumption and Technology

ByPak Hang Wong

chapter 10|13 pages

Consumption and Sustainability

A Neo-Epicurean Approach to a Sustainable Good Life in a Technological Age1
ByEdward Spence

chapter 11|10 pages

Cell Phones, iPods, and Subjective Well-Being

ByValerie Tiberius

part IV|47 pages

Information Technology and Well-Being

chapter 12|10 pages

New Social Media and the Virtues1

ByShannon Vallor

chapter 13|12 pages

Web 2.0

Community as Commodity?
ByDiane P. Michelfelder

chapter 14|10 pages

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

Ethical Views from Prudential Psychology
ByOmar Rosas

chapter 15|13 pages

Virtually Good?

Disclosing the Presuppositions Behind the Claimed Inferiority of Virtual Worlds
ByJohnny Hartz Søraker

part V|54 pages

Medical and Agricultural Technology and Well-Being

chapter 16|10 pages

What's Wrong with Techno Food?

ByDavid M. Kaplan

chapter 17|9 pages

Human Enhancement and Well-Being

ByBengt Brülde

chapter 18|12 pages

On Hubris and Hybrids

Ascesis and the Ethics of Technology
ByPeter-Paul Verbeek

chapter 19|9 pages

Brave New World

Platonism 2.0
ByTsjalling Swierstra

chapter 20|12 pages

Care Robots, Virtual Virtue, and the Best Possible Life

ByMark Coeckelbergh

part VI|60 pages

Technology Design and Policy

chapter 21|12 pages

Can We Design for Well-Being?

ByIbo van de Poel

chapter 22|9 pages

The University, Metrics, and the Good Life

ByRobert Frodeman, J. Britt Holbrook, Kelli Barr

chapter 23|11 pages

Science Policy and the Expectation of Health

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

chapter 24|12 pages

Neutrality and Technology

Ortega Y Gasset on the Good Life
ByJeroen van den Hoven

chapter 25|14 pages

Technological Change and the Destabilization of Liberal Politics

ByGovert Valkenburg