A dangerous master : how to keep technology from slipping beyond our control / Wendell Wallach.

  • Wallach, Wendell, 1946-
Date:
[2015]
  • Books

About this work

Description

From nanotechnology to synthetic organisms, new technologies stand to revolutionize whole domains of human experience. But with awesome potential comes awesome risk: drones can deliver a bomb as readily as they can a new smartphone; makers and hackers can 3D-print guns as well as tools; and supercomputers can short-circuit Wall Street just as easily as they can manage your portfolio. One thing these technologies can't do is answer the profound moral issues they raise. Who should be held accountable when they go wrong? What responsibility do we, as creators and users, have for the technologies we build? Wallach tackles such difficult questions with hard-earned authority, imploring both producers and consumers to face the moral ambiguities arising from our rapid technological growth. He argues, technological development is at risk of becoming a juggernaut beyond human control. -- Edited summary from book.

Publication/Creation

New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2015]

Physical description

vii, 328 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents

Navigating the future -- A prediction -- The C words -- The pace of change -- Trade-offs -- Engineering organisms -- Mastery of the human genome -- Transcending limits -- Cyborgs and Techno Sapiens -- Pathologizing human nature -- Drivers of the storm -- Terminating the terminator -- Engineering for responsibility -- Tools for governance -- Guild navigators.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-316) and index.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    AC.AQ.AA10
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9780465058624
  • 0465058620