ABSTRACT
Limitations on technology assessment become apparent when consideration is given to the actual balancing of benefits against risks. Technology assessment, especially in the early stages of a technology, likely will overweigh benefits and underweigh risks. To expect or to assume that technology assessments should be implemented implies that the values of an elite corps of assessors should be imposed on the public. But technology assessment raises even more serious problems in a democratic society. Much of the interest in technology assessment as a tool for public policy decision-making has stemmed from the interest of the scientific community in making public policy decisions more rational. There are fundamental difficulties with a technology assessment process that is intended to prevent the error the Supreme Court said is "inevitable in free debate." Technology assessment is a useful tool for public policy decision-making only if it is not taken too seriously.
