Why our values should drive our technology choices

Dr Ulf Ehlert, head of Strategy and Policy in the Office of the Chief Scientist at NATO headquarters

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It is fair to say that our relationship with technology is complicated. Just look at headline topics like renewable energy or Artificial Intelligence (AI), or consider pharmaceuticals, automotive, consumer electronics, social media and biotechnology. On the topic of any of these technologies, you’ll almost certainly hear a cacophony of voices that range from promising a new era of happiness to predicting the doom of humanity. How can we make sense of these confusing perspectives, and how can we maximise the benefits of emerging and potentally disruptive technologies while effectively minimising their risks?

How technology evolves

As individuals, we have many different interests in technology. Some are interested in technology itself, but most are interested in the impact technology could have. These interests are often competing, and sometimes downright conflicting. Here is a simplified overview:

• the customer is looking for an affordable solution to a given problem, whereas the designer seeks to improve a given product;
• the innovator strives to demonstrate that her idea will work, while the investor is keen on the return on his investment;
• the corporate manager is committed to increasing his company’s revenue and market share, whereas the regulator focuses on questions of
• the citizen wants to maximise her freedoms and have her rights protected, while the politician tries to balance all the aforementioned interests in devising policies for the benefit of all.

This massive entanglement of interests includes technological ideas, economic and business interests, societal needs, and political considerations. Most of us, most of the time, pursue several of those interests in parallel: certainly as customers and citizens, but also as individuals and members of communities that affect our thinking and the choices we make.

None of these considerations are predetermined, nor are the resulting choices and decisions. Therefore, the collective outcome cannot be predicted. We cannot pre-state the developmental path of any technology. However, it would be hare-brained to conclude that technology follows a path of its own or that we have no influence on technology at all. Quite to the contrary, we all influence technology development, only, this influence is rarely direct or immediately visible. The complexity researcher W. Brian Arthur summarised our multi-faceted relationship with technology as follows: “Technology areas co-evolve together with society in a process of mutual adaptation.”