Social Impacts of Technology LO15601

Walter Derzko (wderzko@pathcom.com)
Sat, 1 Nov 1997 18:26:53 -0500

What methods or questions are you using/asking yourself to anticipate the
social impacts of a new invention, technology or any human artifact ? Is
there a basic core list?

I use five questions:

1)What does a technology enhance ?
(could be positive or negative, i.e. power, control, freedom of selection of
options, reciprocity etc)

2)What does a technology obsolesce?
(usually the old technology or the old way of doing things, N.B. I don't
meam eliminate)

3)What does a technology retrieve ?
(could be something that was lost or obsolesced in an older generation of a
predecessor technology or artifact)

4)What does a technology flip or reverse into at the extreme
(imagine what happens if and when everyone is using it)

5) Does the technology /artifact promote or inhibit experiential and
reflective thinking ?

What other questions could you ask ?

Walter Derzko
Director Idea Lab
Toronto
(416) 588-1122
wderzko@pathcom.com

-- 


"Walter Derzko" <wderzko@pathcom.com>


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