The myth of the moral neutrality of technology

Abstract

Scientists and engineers lack the equivalent of an ethics committee to which their colleagues in the medical profession may turn when ethical dilemmas arise. In the US workers in aerospace industry have campaigned for a Technology Bill of Rights. In the UK there has been a vigorous movement around the concept of socially useful and environmentally desirable technology. The organisation “Scientists for Social Responsibility” has set up a panel of scientists who can advise younger colleagues on issues of ethical responsibility.