Strange technology
Progress in technology is generally seen as a good thing, but some technologies that have been developed in recent years are not winning the masses over. From nanotechnology to cell stem research and nuclear power to food irradiation, many people are critical of today's recent scientific advances for various reasons. The fully-funded EU project 'Intuitive ethics and sensitive technologies' (INEST) looked at public perceptions of sensitive technologies that often differ with people's social values and presumptions. Beyond simple public opinion, the project wanted to examine the social and moral values, as well as different world views, on how such new technologies are perceived. To achieve its aims, the INEST team integrated results from different studies on the subject, incorporating views from various disciplines such as social psychology, moral psychology, sociology and anthropology. It conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses of intuitive ethics and elaborated a case study on synthetic biology to help achieve its aims. The project also aimed to demonstrate how some of the public's concerns are generalised, being applied to different technologies which resemble each other but that are essentially not the same. These confounded technologies challenge the public's widely accepted notions of the natural order of life across the board, creating concerns that could be unfounded. Many important publications emerged from the project dealing with public views of sensitive technologies and intuitive reasoning on the 'natural' and the 'unnatural'. The publications also addressed how the public makes sense of new and unknown technology, as well as the experiences of women in science and technology. All these publications will help bridge the gap between science and the public, dispel myths, counter exaggerations and inform citizens about new technologies in a more balanced way.
