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Innovation
Technology can have positive and
negative impacts on individuals,
society and the environment.
http://www.howstuffworks.com
Societal Problems
Desired Unintended
Technological
Decision
Intended Undesired
Unplanned
The automobile is fast, cheap
transportation for the driver and provides
profits for the manufacturer.
These are the first order effects that are
obvious to most consumers.
However, there are second and third order
effects.
Decline of the railroads, urban decline, the
interstate highway system, the decline in
environmental quality, etc.
The moving assembly line: drew women into
the workforce
The difficulty of forecasting technological
developments and the resulting side
effects is one reason that criticism is ever
present.
History of Technology Assessment
Technology assessment dates back to the
creation of the Regulatory Agency in the
1850s which was created after more than
2,500 deaths related to the shipping
industry.
Regulation spread to other areas as well,
but in the early 20th century focus was
shifted to technology.
National Environmental Policy Act
of 1972
This act required environmental impact
statements for all federal actions significantly
affecting the environment.
The Technology Assessment Act of 1972 was
enacted by Congress to establish an Office of
Technology Assessment (OTA) as an aid in the
identification and consideration of existing and
probable impacts of technological application; to
amend the National Science Foundation Act of
1950; and for other purposes.
The basic function of the OTA was
to:
1. Identify existing or probable impacts of
technology or technological problems
2. Where possible, ascertain cause-and-
effect relationships
3. Identify alternative technological
methods of implementing specific
programs
4. Identify alternative programs for
achieving requisite goals
5. Make estimates and comparisons of the
impacts of alternative methods and
programs
6. Present findings of completed analyses
to the appropriate legislative authorities
7. Identify areas where additional research
or data collection is required to provide
adequate support for the assessments
and estimates.
8. Undertake such additional associated
activities as specified by the appropriate
authorities.
Office of Technology Assessment
(OTA)
Topics studied by OTA have ranged
widely from nuclear proliferation to
pollution control, industrial
competitiveness, computer security and
privacy, and medical technology.
The OTA was extremely successful and
widely acclaimed.
The OTA published over 100,000 pages of
the best available analysis of policy
issues.
For 23 years the Office of Technology
Assessment (OTA) provided Congress
and other committees with an objective
analysis of various technological and
scientific issues that faced America.
The Congressional Office of Technology
Assessment closed on September 29,
1995. It was small and fell victim to
political downsizing in the 90s in an
attempt to streamline the budget.
The complete collection of publications by
the office as well as other materials about
its history are available online at:
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/ns20/legacy_n.html
Biotechnology and Assessment
When dealing with living things, a whole
host of ethical issues arise, that may not
have surfaced with other forms of
technological development.
Generally, morals, values, and religious
beliefs surface when determining the
positive and negative aspects of bio
related technology.
The large-scale introduction of biomedical and
other technologies in the second half of the 20th
century has raised new ethical issues such as:
The definition of death
Withdrawal of life-sustaining medical treatment
Prenatal diagnosis and abortion
Storage of frozen human embryos
The use of humans, animals, or fetal tissue for
scientific research
The screening of persons for the AIDS virus or other
infections
The disposition of toxic wastes
The expansion of genetic engineering
The awareness of bioethics and other moral
issues has caused us to pay more attention to
practical problems of biological research and
deal with the moral and social concerns of
human behavior.
Modern Biotechnology is a collection of
technologies that are all targeted for a specific
purpose.
These biotechnologies all have a common
factor, which is the use of cells and biological
molecules.
Biotechnology is a very large and growing area
of study.
Some common areas of research in Biotechnology
include: