Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and Information & Communication Technology are associated with contemporary domains of new S&T development. These emerging technologies though mostly in early phases of development and often vaguely defined as purely by perceived novelty or as commercially important areas of emerging science thus enigmatic precise future, are viewed as having the potential to provide long-term social and economic benefits and are widely considered to offer considerable promise in the context of national and global challenge. However, these technologies tend to be largely laboratory-based, require huge expenses, transdisciplinary, generic in scope and supply driven. Also, such technologies raise issues that will influence public acceptance and the level of adoption in future. A wide-ranged expectations form emerging technologies are being articulated across the world which tend to focus on solutions to current concerns, such as, food & health security, environmental safety, and economic sustainability. These expectation and associated capabilities should be considered not only in the context of problems but also in the societal acceptance and futures perspectives. Further, ethical issues has emerged as a theme across a range of new technologies, such as information, security, biometrics, biomedical, and even the prospective applications of specific nanotechnologies that require definite frameworks to address these issues. Privacy remains a relevant policy issue for various sectors, such as health, justice and homeland security and the rights of consumers. Further, as progression of technology is clearly important, cultural contexts, social innovation and behaviour change must also be incorporated into the visions and strategies frameworks. What do you think about the prospects of new emerging technologies and how these new domains will tackle the social & ethical issues?
I am an ever-optimist! So, the prospects of new emerging technologies are very good! The living conditions and the environmental awareness of the people will increase with years. I see a big technological bloom in the coming decades with superfast computers and great progress in internet speed, etc. Best wishes, Sundar
Yes Arno, technological advancement in transportation definitely has significant socioeconomic impact. My question is about the new emerging domains of science and technology that is expected to offer considerable promise in the context of national and global challenge such as, food & health security, environmental safety, and economic sustainability but confronted with lots of social apprehension, conflicts and ethical issues.
I am an ever-optimist! So, the prospects of new emerging technologies are very good! The living conditions and the environmental awareness of the people will increase with years. I see a big technological bloom in the coming decades with superfast computers and great progress in internet speed, etc. Best wishes, Sundar
Dear @Yogesh, like my friend @Sundarapandian, I am an ever-optimist! I hope that emerging technologies have positive impact on our lives; however, to guarantee this, a huge amount of research should be done on the safety part associated with these technologies before being finally approved.
Dear friends,let me underline some non-optimist aspects. Cybercrime creates more damage than traditional bank robberies, pornography telematics is one of the most thriving business, cyber terrorism is growing and all these features leads to a new "digital" poverty. In this context, it becomes a need for greater awareness of professional and cultural dimension of social and especially ethical implications of new information and communication technologies.
New technologies will disrupt the status quo for a while , until we reach a consensus on ethical issues. A major implication of nanotechnology is environmental health and the resultant impact on our health. .
Intelligent transport systems (ITS) has been proposed and it is very innovative.
Kindly read the enclosed link for technical details.
http://www.etsi.org/index.php/technologies-clusters/technologies/intelligent-transport
Governance and Ethics of New and Emerging Technologies covers the issue-link 1. "...Increasingly, ethical frameworks for new and emerging fields of science and technology (S&T) are required to address the issue of privacy. This issue has emerged as a theme across a range of new technologies, such as information, security, biometrics, biomedical, and even the prospective applications of specific nanotechnologies."
EU adopted an emerging code for emerging ethical issues of an emerging technology! - link 2.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/index.cfm?fuseaction=public.topic&id=1252
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/nordmann-a-presentation_en.pdf
Managers should adopt new emerging technologies; take their benefit and avoid their negative social & ethical issues.
This report which is attached Ethical Issues of New and Emerging Technologies .
The Report delivers: "How will this technology affect:
♦ my family or me immediately and in the future?
♦ my values and priorities?
♦ my business?
♦ animals?
♦ the environment
Who is asking and why? Who is being asked? Who makes the decisions about what is right?... Very good research report that covers 23 new and emerging technologies and its impact!
http://itethic.pbworks.com/f/Ethical_Issues_of_New_and_Emerging_Technologies.pdf
Despite the expected potential roadblocks in terms of social, ethical, and commercial questions, newer technologies hold the key to handling problems of the future. As we progress towards handling more complex situations, we need transdisciplinary skills to help meet future requirements. Areas like biotechnology are not necessarily very new, as we have been using it in areas such as agriculture, food production, and pharmacology for quite some time. Newer by products like genomics or biorobotics are, however, going to get more useful in the context of current and future needs.
Teach your children well... move on with the ages. Dust comes soon enough to everyone.
Ethical and Social issues play a important role in ones Carrier
only science and technological developments alone can not make it a holistic life
I do agree with the above mentioned answers, but individuals can make difference in Education,
Any new technology is going to affect the ecosystems as we live in a interconnected society
@Monica Bhattacharjee - The world is indeed optimistic about the ability of biotechnology to improve the quality of life. However, with progression of biotechnology many ethical and social reactions has triggered from the public opinion, the media and non-governmental organisations. There are perceptibly varying supports for different biotechnological aspirations which are high for medical, moderate for product diversification/improvement and low or poor for agriculture. The low public support for genetically modified food and GM food is often seen as not useful, morally unacceptable and a risk for society. The public opinion is supportive of biofuels as the same are linked with issues like global warming, preserving national security, and limiting dependence on foreign oil. Genetic engineering of living cells, plants, animals and human beings has brought ethical concerns and issues to the foreground. Creation of genetically engineered tomatoes or soya, cloning of the sheep Dolly, human genome decoding, human embryos cloning have been have faced many ethical reactions. It remains unclear if technical progress could inspire more positive opinions. There is, therefore promoting public education and scientific risk communication is certainly vital for the peaceful development of biotechnology.
@ Prakash Mallappa Munnoli
Yes Dear Prakash, addressing ethical, social and environmental issues to the satisfaction of all concerned is vital for acceptance and sustenance of any technology in the society
@ Prof. Ierardi - You have pointed out a vital issue of cybercrime. In the era of globalization and emerging knowledge society, Information and communication Technology (ICT) has become an influential need for faster communication and collection of information and knowledge. However, with evolution the domain has to deal with complex ethical, legal and societal issues pertaining to the freedom of expression, access to information, right to privacy, intellectual property rights and cultural diversity which are being violated all over the world in the name of economic advancement, political stability, religious causes, anti-terrorism campaign or for personal greed and interests. The incidence of malicious attacks on the confidentiality, integrity and internet-related offences such as forgery and fraud, content-related offences, threats to critical infrastructure and national interests are obvious in day to day life. Violations of these rights have created new problems in human social systems, thus affecting people’s lives either directly or indirectly. As such serious actions are needed to protect the privacy and basic rights of all human beings. For creation of cybercrime free information society and to encourage further inventions and innovations to generate wealth establishment and enforcement of strict cyber-laws, standards, regulations is crucial to foster high quality and secure services and products that maintain competitiveness for the benefit of world communities.
I do feel that it always has both positive and negative effect,and here i can't say that all new technologies have only negatives and at the same time only positives. If u ask me about GM crops and all, i will say GM technology some what resembles evolution. and at the other corner i will say yes it is not good, but we have many modified things in environment... how your going to control it? ... so we have to get good hold on technology and using that itself we have to control.
Well said Bhagya "we have to get good hold on technology and using that itself we have to control"
Dear Bhagya - I have a separate thread going on currently to discuss about GM-crops and GMO food. We may move GM-crops discussion in that exclusive thread.
Best wishes, Sundar
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Are_the_Genetically_Modified_GM_crops_safe_to_grow_and_eat?_tpcectx=qa_overview_following
I am in favor of all these new emerging technologies, but at the same time we are facing with ever-changing threats. Hence, it would be better to build necessary infrastructure, and adopt and implement necessary laws or regulations, prior to adopting emerging technologies.
I am working with nanomaterials and I can see that they are going to have enormous potential in our day-to-day life..........
Multinational corporations are technology driven enterprises. Their production strength and cost cutting exercises depend upon their technology strength. The extent of technology strength paves the way to them to introduce value added products providing added consumer value.
Multinational corporations cannot survive without updated and sophisticated technology. So it can be concluded that their core strength and competency is technology.
Korean companies are building their technology strength and productivity and come forward to provide color television at the price of black and white television. It shows their inbuilt strength in technology that paves the way to reduce cost of output.
For this there is a nice little book by Mihio Kaku: Physics of the Future. How science will shape human destiny and our daly lives by the year 2100!, Doubleday, 2011.
Hi
I think these articles can show these prospects:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nist.gov%2Fpml%2Fdiv683%2Fupload%2FMayberry_March_2010.pdf&ei=YaYBVKiQKcuVap7DgqAP&usg=AFQjCNGPawAQ_D1w5A6Ckye490Oj_k2e4Q&sig2=xVIdyXIztU9JCbrPNEFKCg&bvm=bv.74115972,d.d2s
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCQQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.natlab.dtu.dk%2F~%2Fmedia%2FAndre_Universitetsenheder%2FNationallab_for_Baeredygtig_Energi%2FNatLabDocs%2FRER1_ris-r-1351.ashx&ei=YaYBVKiQKcuVap7DgqAP&usg=AFQjCNFmP3Pdud-xi3jNRFp-9PI5kDDWnw&sig2=M64PQMGvWf6tw72mVeFd2g&bvm=bv.74115972,d.d2s
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oecd.org%2Ffutures%2Fglobalprospects%2F37944611.pdf&ei=YaYBVKiQKcuVap7DgqAP&usg=AFQjCNHdmHf6cYq_z37E9GV5zhI0uiUnLA&sig2=zc1Dws1xutEVSUOsFGmXjg&bvm=bv.74115972,d.d2s
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2Fexternal%2Fpubs%2Fft%2Fsdn%2F2014%2Fsdn1406.pdf&ei=YaYBVKiQKcuVap7DgqAP&usg=AFQjCNE-3TUqCU1gSTifHtAHx6ZXQDDDXw&sig2=Dc7cmINGXExZobFrIxoMcQ&bvm=bv.74115972,d.d2s
Biotechnologies could help human beings to reduce the Environmental burderns of their industrial activities..but at the moment several studies are based on lab scale results. Conversely, a successfull project for which I have worked, showed an interesting application of immobilized laccase for textile dyes synthesis (for details see www.biscol.unisi.it)
Dear Daniele, your work on application of immobilized laccase for textile dyes synthesis is interesting. A significant amount of research have emphasized the prospective role of biotechnology in environmental clean-up. All such findings need to be actually trialed and implemented at field scale.
A very general question. The use of emerging technologies depends not only on their technological potential but also on the timing of their development. The social and political climate will definitely cast its influence on the manner in which the same technology is utilized. I personally see much promise in energy and health but not as much in environment. Privacy is secondary, in my opinion to transparency and safety.
I found the following document (although out dated) may stimulate further discussion about emerging technologies and their roles in our lives.
Before explaining the most important emerging technologies, the author summarizes as "The top 10 technologies presented here offer a potential roadmap for enhancing our collective quality of life through technology. But as I hinted in the beginning, technology is not the answer to life. Without philosophy, the arts, spirituality, experiential wisdom and personal ethics, we are doomed as a civilization, regardless of the technologies we may invent. These technologies only make sense when we are mature enough as a species to wield the powers they offer us."
Mike Adams: The 10 Most Important Emerging Technologies for Humanity
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_emergingtechnologies.htm
Very well said Prof Mahmoud "technology is not the answer to life. Without experiential wisdom and personal ethics, we are doomed as a civilization, regardless of the technologies we may invent. These technologies only make sense when we are mature enough as a species to wield the powers they offer us". The reasons behind all public apprehensions, disagreements and controversy about GM crops, certain medicine, environmental concerns of nanotechnology are due to ignorance of societal values and ethical issues that need to addressed with utmost sincerity for acceptance of all such technologies.
Let me quote some from the introduction of the book by Mihio Kaku Physics of the Future. How science will shape human destiny and our daly lives by the year 2100!, Doubleday, 2011.
“Predicting the next few years, let alone a century into the future, is a daunting task. Yet it is one that challenges us to dream about technologies we believe will one day alter the fate of humanity”
“the desire to understand all the physical laws of the universe in a single coherent theory and the desire to see the future.”
“As William Gibson, the author of Neuromancer who coined the word cyberspace, once said, “The future is already here. It’s just unevenly distributed.”
“The key to understanding the future is to grasp the fundamental laws of nature and then apply them to the inventions, machines, and therapies that will redefine our civilization far into the future.”
“In conclusion, there are several reasons to believe that we can view the outlines of the world of 2100:
1. This book is based on interviews with more than 300 top scientists, those in the forefront of discovery.
2. Every scientific development mentioned in this book is consistent with the known laws of physics.
3. The four forces and the fundamental laws of nature are largely known; we do not expect any major new changes in these laws.
4. Prototypes of all technologies mentioned in this book already exist.
5. This book is written by an “insider” who has a firsthand look at the technologies that are on the cutting edge of research.”
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