Emerging Technologies and Ethical Issues in Engineering

 

New technologies have the potential to produce positive and unforeseeable (and possibly negative) results; among these are innovations in sustainability, nanotechnology, neurotechnology, and energy technology. By virtue of their expertise, engineers are in a unique position to understand, assess, and shape these technologies, and to inform the public about them.

This project consisted of a 1-day NAE workshop on October 14 and 15, 2003, titled "Emerging Technologies and Ethical Issues." It had three objectives: 1) to describe directions of development of these emerging technologies; 2) to review the state of the art in engineering ethics in search of strategies and tools for addressing these emerging technologies; and 3) to address questions as to what engineers and engineering professional organizations, such as the NAE, can and should do to ensure that these technologies are developed in socially responsible ways.