| Business and Society: Corporate Strategy, Public Policy, Ethics, 10/e James Post,
Boston University Anne T Lawrence,
San Jose State University James Weber,
Duquesne University
Managing Technological Challenges
Chapter ObjectivesTechnology fosters change and more change. Technological change has raised ethical and social questions of privacy, security, ownership, and health and safety. What are the implications of this fast-paced change on our society and those who live in it? Moreover, who is responsible for determining how much technological change should occur or how fast things should change? Should technology be controlled, and if so, who should be in charge of managing technology and the challenges it poses for humans and cultures in our global community? Bill Joy, Sun Microsystems' chief scientist, warned of the dangers of rapid advances in technology: The experiences of the atomic scientists clearly show the need to take personal responsibility, the danger that things will move too fast, and the way in which a process can take on a life if its own. We can, as they did, create insurmountable problems in almost no time flat. We must do more thinking up front if we are not to be similarly surprised and shocked by the consequences of our inventions.1
1 Bill Joy, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," Wired, April 2000, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy. This chapter focuses on these key questions and objectives:
1What initiatives have businesses voluntarily taken to protect the privacy of their stakeholders? |
| | | 2How secure is information in a free access, information society? |
| | | 3Should businesses manage technological change, and if so, how? |
| | | 4Is businesses' control of intellectual property threatened in an information society? |
| | | 5What ethical and social challenges arise due to technological breakthroughs in science and medicine? |
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