Democratizing Technology: Interests, Codes, Rights

This reply to criticism of Questioning Technology by Gerald Doppeltaddresses differences between political philosophy and philosophy oftechnology. While political philosophers such as Doppelt emphasize procedural aspects of democracy and equal rights, many philosophers of technologyimplicitly assume a substantive criterion of the good centered on thedevelopment of human capacities. Questioning Technology alsoemphasizes the diminishing agency of individuals in technologically advanced societies dominated by large scale organizations and themass media. These themes of social critique complement the main focusof political philosophy. Political philosophy must learn to addresstechnical issues as it has learned to address other social issuessuch as race and gender.     

技术信任和领导信任对企业员工新技术接受的影响

在当今知识经济时代, 新技术的采用对于企业提高核心竞争力至关重要。如何使员工面对新技术带来的风险和不确定性, 信任并接受新技术是企业新技术推广的重要问题。现今学界虽已关注到信任在新技术采用这一过程中的积极作用, 但仍缺乏相关的理论和实证研究, 特别是对于其内在心理机制的解释。为弥补这一研究的不足, 本研究通过分析企业新技术推广情境下, 技术信任和领导信任对员工新技术接受的影响, 并引入了感知风险性与技术自我效能感作为中介变量, 探寻信任影响的内在机制。此外, 还进一步探讨企业文化的调节作用, 从而建构信任与企业员工新技术接受的理论模型, 为企业新技术的推广提出合理建议。     

Against over-estimating the role of ethics in technology development

The role of ethics in technology development has been often questioned, especially in the early days of societal reflection of technology. However, the situation has changed dramatically. Ethical consideration now is generally declared to be indispensable in shaping technology in a socially acceptable and sustainable way. The expectations of ethics are large; often even a kind of “New Ethics” is postulated. In the present paper an over-estimation of the role of ethics for technology development is rejected. It is argued that ethical reflection is, indeed, indispensable in certain problem areas and situation types; but there is, on the other hand, space for technology development free from the requirement for ethical reflection. The absence of a requirement for ethical reflection, however, always has to be considered relative to some “morale provisoire” (provisional morality) as an accepted normative framework within which technology development may occur without explicit ethical reflection. If this framework, however, is doubted or is shown to be insufficient the situation changes completely. Ethical reflection in this case becomes necessary, to consider this normative framework in order to offer modifications or supplements.     

哈贝马斯科技伦理观述评——哈贝马斯《作为"意识形态"的技术与科学》解读

哈贝马斯关于科学技术执行着意识形态的职能的思想,进一步发展了霍克海默和马尔库塞的科学伦理思想。同时这又是他试图进行历史唯物主义“重建”的序曲。哈贝马斯通过对韦伯的合理化的伦理观进行解析和批判,提出了交往关系的伦理解释框架,辨析了科学技术意识形态化的社会制度背景,并认为,只有随着资本主义生产方式的出现,制度框架的合理性才能直接同社会劳动系统联系在一起。科学技术成为第一位的生产力使国家干预活动的增加,同时技术与科学具有意识形态的作用。哈贝马斯揭示了晚期资本主义社会科学技术发展的新动向,也可以引发我们对科学技术的合理应用的思考。然而,在哈贝马斯关于科学技术意识形态化的批判中,的确存在着方法论的误区。     

Emerging Medical Technologies and Emerging Conceptions of Health

Using ideas gleaned from the philosophy of technology of Martin Heidegger and Hans Jonas and the philosophy of health of Georges Canguilhem, I argue that one of the characteristics of emerging medical technologies is that these technologies lead to new conceptions of health. When technologies enable the body to respond to more and more challenges of disease, we thus establish new norms of health. Given the continued development of successful technologies, we come to expect more and more that our bodies should be able to respond to ever-new challenges of environment and disease by establishing ever-new norms of health. Technologies may aim at the prevention and treatment of disease, but they also bring about modifications of what we consider normal for the human being. Thus, new norms of health arise from technological innovation.     

Conceptualising Decadent Technology: A Case Study of Path Dependence in Radiotherapy

Abstract

Large-scale investments in health technologies often have limited evidence for effectiveness when first introduced. Nevertheless, professional and public discourses often present the advantages of such investments, with unknown risks, as necessary and entailing significant improvement. Such discourses are evident with the introduction of the Linac Adapted Conebeam Imager (LACI), introduced to improve the accuracy of radiotherapy treatments. From one perspective, the introduction of such technologies can be considered to be decadent since there is limited, if any, evidence of improvement of current standards and procedures, yet they are promoted as the latest and best technologies for solving societal problems. Connecting the concepts of decadence to those of path dependence, through the case of the LACI, enables the exploration of the ‘technical interrelatedness’ of technological changes. Building on the concept of path dependence, it is possible to demonstrate how introducing a closely related technology does not only become a low-risk course of action. Rather change is demanded (but not determined) as well as potential alternative systems being obscured. With decadent technologies, any future changes are not only dependent upon past introductions; but also they create a need for future changes. Such a view demonstrates how these technologies may not necessarily offer any improvements, but rather contribute to the creation of ongoing demand for unproven technologies. As a result they may encourage the introduction of increasingly complex technologies.     

应用烧伤整形外科技术治疗大面积皮肤撕脱伤

探讨大面积皮肤撕脱伤的治疗方法。分析总结大面积皮肤撕脱伤及合并损伤17例,根据伤情综合应用清创撕脱皮肤缝合、带蒂真皮下血管网皮瓣回植、撕脱皮肤反取皮回植、组织瓣转移修复、游离皮片移植、头皮取皮术、异体／异种皮移植、创面持续负压吸引VSD等治疗方法,观察创面修复、肢体外观及功能恢复情况。结果17例患者经综合治疗后创面均愈合。功能部位均予全层皮片或皮瓣修复;19处创面有深部组织外露,予皮瓣或肌瓣修复;随访6个月～3年,所有肢体功能良好。根据皮肤软组织损伤情况而综合运用多种烧伤整形外科技术修复大面积撕脱伤可缩短疗程,并最大可能保留受伤区域的功能与外观,改善患者生活质量。     

The case for responsibility of the IT industry to promote equality for women in computing

This paper investigates the relationship between the role that information technology (IT) has played in the development of women’s employment, the possibility of women having a significant influence on the technology’s development, and the way that the IT industry perceives women as computer scientists, users and consumers. The industry’s perception of women and men is investigated through the portrayal of them in computing advertisements. While women are increasingly updating their technological skills and know-how, and through this process are entering some positions in the workplace traditionally occupied by men, these achievements are not mirrored in their social and occupational status. The computer industry and higher education have worryingly low numbers of women, while the possibility of women influencing the development of computer technology is just emerging in feminist research. This paper argues that, though the IT industry, through their self-regulatory codes, subscribes to equal treatment of sexes, races and persons with disabilities, the industry nevertheless paints a stereotyped picture of inequality when portraying men and women in computer advertisements. As long as such a perception of women prevails within the industry, it will stand as a barrier to women having equal access to computer technology. If advertisements influence the way society perceives major social constructs and issues, then the computing industry has a social responsibility to portray men and women in an equal and non-stereotypical fashion. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the ETHICOMP98 Conference, Rotterdam, Holland, March 1998.     

Let’s Make Things Better: A Reply to My Readers

This article is a reply to the three reviews of my book What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design (Verbeek 2005) in this symposium. It discusses the remarks made by the reviewers along five lines. The first is methodological and concerns the question of how to develop a philosophical approach to technology. The second line discusses the philosophical orientation of the book, and the relations between analytic and continental approaches. Third, I will discuss the metaphysical aspects of the book, in particular the nature and value of the non-modernist approach it aims to set out. Fourth, I will discuss the social and political relevance of the book. Fifth, this will bring me to some concluding remarks about how the postphenomenological perspective developed in the book relates to liberalism, focusing on its suggestions to deliberately design our material environment in terms of mediation.

Exploring the Current Usage and Preferences for Everyday Technology among People with Serious Mental Illnesses

While literature reports people with serious mental illnesses can benefit from everyday technology, evidence supporting whether or not they are using it in their daily lives is limited. This study investigated what people with serious mental illness are using technology for, what they would like to use it for, and why they are currently not using particular features. Results indicated 97.1% of participants own or use a wireless device, 82.4% use text messaging, 64.7% use email, and 70.6% use voicemail. Implications for further research as well as implications for therapeutic interventions using technology are discussed.     

Gender Schemas: A Cognitive Explanation of Discrimination of Women in Technology

Despite the need for qualified personnel in the field of information technology (IT), women are under represented. Recruiting has been difficult and those women entering the profession often leave. Gender schema theory adds to the explanation of behaviors and attitudes in the workplace that may adversely impact women in technology. We surveyed members of Systers, an online forum for women in technology, to examine gender schemas of IT women to see if there is a significant difference between them and the general public. Our findings suggest that there is a significant difference in the gender-schemas of women in technology and the gender-schemas of the general population. A subsequent sample of male IT students and men in the general public also indicated a significant difference in gender schemas of these two groups. Implications of these differences and future research in this area are discussed.     

从反义技术到反基因技术：基因治疗的新突破

脱氧寡核苷酸或肽核酸可与基因双链DNA内的特定序列结合形成三逻DNA,三链DNA结构的形成可以抑制靶基因的转录。三链DNA在治疗肿瘤和病毒感染,降低耐药性,抑制免疫等方面都可以有广泛的应用,三链DNA的提出和发现为基因治疗提供了一个新的方向。     

Technology in Medicine: Ontology,Epistemology, Ethics and Social Philosophy at the Crossroads

In reference to the different approaches in philosophy(of medicine) of the nature of (medical) technology,this article introduces the topic of this specialissue of Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, that is,the way the different forms of medical technologyfunction in everyday medical practice. The authorselaborate on the active role technology plays inshaping our views on disease, illness, and the body,whence in shaping our world.     

Obstetric Ultrasound and the Technological Mediation of Morality: A Postphenomenological Analysis

This article analyzes the moral relevance of technological artifacts and its possible role in ethical theory, by taking the postphenomenological approach that has developed around the work of Don Ihde into the domain of ethics. By elaborating a postphenomenological analysis of the mediating role of ultrasound in moral decisions about abortion, the article argues that technologies embody morality and help to constitute moral subjectivity. This technological mediation of the moral subject is subsequently addressed in terms of Michel Foucault’s ethical position, in which ethics is about actively co-shaping one’s moral subjectivity. Integrating Foucauldian ethics and postphenomenology, the article argues that the technological mediation of moral subjectivity should be at the heart of an ethical approach that takes the moral dimensions of technology seriously.

Psychoanalysis is becoming an impossible profession within the public welfare system in Sweden

Abstract

The preconditions for psychoanalytic practice within the Swedish public welfare system are analyzed in this article. Psychoanalysis remains a one-to-one treatment and relies on the analyst's capacity to use his or her own subjective response. The development of the psychoanalytic process is dependent on unconscious reality, making it impossible to work with a model that has a strict relation between diagnosis, treatment method, and result. Objectivity and the desire to predict treatment outcomes characterize the immanent logic in the complex system of laws and recommendations that affects most practices within the field of medicine. As a consequence of this development, psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy are marginalized, since our treatment methods are not adapted to the present industrialization and economization of the medical health sector, with the result that the preconditions for psychoanalytic training have changed dramatically. The exclusion of psychoanalysis from the national health insurance scheme is a demanding challenge at a time when the Swedish welfare model is undergoing fundamental changes.     

泌尿外科技术的进展与应用

随着科学技术的飞速发展,以腔内泌尿外科为代表的泌尿外科技术得到迅速发展和广泛应用。回顾历史,泌尿外科技术的发展是在实践、认识,再实践、再认识的过程中不断发展、完善的;但高技术决不是万能的,作为泌尿外科医生,在应用这些技术时必须坚持一切从实际出发,在系统论的指导下不断提高和拓展临床思维,做到全面、客观、真实地认识疾病,真正掌握和应用泌尿外科高新技术,使其更好地为患者服务。     

从"独身女性可生育"引发的伦理道德和法律思考

<吉林省人口与计划生育条例>(2002)规定"独身女性可生育".辅助生育技术使生育与婚姻、性行为的联系,家庭亲缘与社会人伦关系,继承权、赡养权、抚养权、人格尊严权等均形成冲击,易引起家庭、医疗及社会纠纷.应使生命科学在法制的规范下与伦理道德协调发展,更好地为人类服务.     

腹膜透析技术的发展

腹膜透析是一门年轻的学科。随着科学技术的发展,人们对腹膜透析的认识越来越深入。随着新材料新方法不断应用于临床,腹膜透析技术逐渐完善起来,病人的生存期也越来越长,人数越来越多。但伴随腹膜透析的广泛应用又产生了很多问题,通过问题的解决,腹膜透析又会进一步发展。     

浅析蕴含在神经外科技术发展过程中的辩证思维

自然辩证法揭示了自然界以及科学技术发展的一般规律,神经外科学也不例外.纵观现代神经外科学一百多年来的技术变革和发展历程,无不渗透着辩证思想的影响.作为科学的认识论和方法论.自然辩证法对神经外科技术发展和临床实践的指导意义值得我们重视,本文对矛盾规律、质量互变规律、否定之否定规律、内因与外因、偶然性与必然性等范畴或规律在神经外科技术变革过程中的体现和意叉进行了探讨.