Call for Papers:
What can we make of social experiments for dealing with technological hazards?
Proposal for a Special Issue with Science and Engineering Ethics
Editors: Neelke Doorn, Zoe Robaey, Shannon Spruit
Introduction
Technology is a vital component of human development. Although most often aimed at the advancement of human well-being, the introduction of new technologies may also introduce potentially harmful consequences. Societies face the problem that, often, the potential impacts and hazards brought about by new technologies remain unknown until they reveal themselves. Conventional approaches to risk governance are not directly applicable to these fields due to high levels of uncertainty and ignorance. Categorically rejecting the introduction of new technologies may not provide the knowledge needed to make a well-informed decision about potential impacts. At the same time, given the fact that technological risks and dangers often only materialize after a long time (e.g., asbestos, DDT), a broad scholarship has been reflecting on how to deal with these new and risky technologies. Within that scholarship, some authors have argued to conceive of new technologies as social experiments and to look for the conditions under which such an experiment is morally justified. In this special issue we look at the implications of using the experimental lens for achieving responsible innovation.
Conceptual overview
The essays in this collection can be grouped under three overarching themes, which overall aim to elucidate the notion of social experimentation with new technologies.
1) The first theme examines the distinction between the pejorative notion of experimentation (the experimental subject as “guinea pig”) and responsible experimentation, as is relates to responsible research and innovation. In other words, should we use this lens, and if yes, under which circumstances?
2) The second theme is about the limitations and opportunities of conceiving of technologies as social experiments. Is it applicable to all technologies or maybe only to some technologies? Who are the experimenters and how do we draw the boundaries of the social experiment? We will solicit contributions such that a broad range of technologies is covered ( bio- and nano- technology, ICT, nuclear, energy, water).
3) The third theme is the notion of responsibility in a social experiment. After a technology is introduced in society several actors are involved in the experiment, this may blur the distribution of responsibilities between different parties involved and also links to issues of democratization of science. Also, what does this responsibility mean for different societal actors, with particular regards to the governance of hazards?
Please express your interest by July 1st, 2014 by emailing your general topic and how it relates to one or more of the three themes described above to Shannon Spruit ([log in to unmask]).
Lengths of contribution: 6.000-8.000 words per contribution