The Balance of Individual and Infrastructure Values in Decisions Regarding Advanced Science and Technology

Shunichi Hienuki,Tadahiro Shibutani,Atsumi Miyake,Takahiro Saigo,Kazuhiko Noguchi

doi:10.3390/su11123385

Shunichi Hienuki, Tadahiro Shibutani + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123385

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Abstract

A country’s scientific technology policy rarely reflects public opinion. In this study, we created a hierarchical model of societal well-being, comprising five value components for both individual and infrastructure well-being, to analyze the balance among these values. We conducted a survey in two stages; first, both individual and infrastructure well-being were investigated, and then the weights between pairs of value categories composing individual and infrastructure well-being were scored to assess which categories were most important. The analysis of the first stage used the score magnitudes, while that of the second stage used the analytic hierarchy process. The results showed that people value individual well-being more than infrastructure well-being. For both types of well-being, values related to the economy and safety were ranked as more important than the other values, but the weights were distributed over all value components. For individual well-being, the most important value category was the one related to safety, while for infrastructure well-being, it was economy. Therefore, people prioritize different values for themselves and for society as a whole. This suggests that when making decisions regarding technology, it is necessary to understand its effects on all fields and consider the balance between the value categories of well-being.

Highlights

Advanced science and technology, such as hydrogen-energy technology and autonomous driving systems, are usually introduced to make individuals and societies happier
The χ2 test was performed to verify the link between the responses on safety and the economy in individual and infrastructure well-being, and the null hypothesis was rejected at less than 1%, and it was shown that there is a relationship between the two relative values
We provided a hierarchical model of the values that compose individual and infrastructure well-being, performed a public opinion survey, and analyzed the changes in the magnitudes of well-being by value category and the relative weights of values in 2015

Summary

Introduction

Advanced science and technology, such as hydrogen-energy technology and autonomous driving systems, are usually introduced to make individuals and societies happier As these technologies can produce both negative and positive effects, the balance between them must be considered. Multifaceted analyses and evaluations are required for policy and scientific technology, it is unclear how individuals weigh the importance of each of the component values This is because, at the initial stages of a science and technology policy, ordinary people do not have enough knowledge or information about the technology under consideration. Large-scale surveys should contain appropriate information about the technology being considered to allow participants to learn about it This necessarily incurs a large cost in terms of time and money, and is not realistic to perform a survey for every scientific technology. At this stage, the final decision-maker must use subjective information while paying close attention to objective information based on numerical and scientific data [4]

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