Lecture 3 – Regulation: Ethics, Acceptance, Legitimacy
Last week we discussed the history of information technology in order to show how fast the
developments are going.
Risks, evaluation, cost/benefits, issue of soft drawbacks. People think that risks are a different
category than moral drawbacks, but they are the same family. Soft drawbacks also matter.
This week the different forms of regulating human’s behaviour will be discussed and we’ll have look
at efficiency and efficacy.
Very often risks are related to health, life and the environment, so they often come in the form of
quantified units. Everyone can imagine what a risk is as the conceiving of it is very tangible. In
addition to the risks we distinguish the soft moral drawbacks, justice, dignity, freedom, privacy. It is
clever of policymakers to take into account the soft drawbacks in addition to the hard risks, for moral
reasons but also for strategic reasons: future acceptance of regulations and policies and for efficiency
and efficacy.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is already used in deodorants, water and filth resistant clothing, though it is still
quite controversial. There is possible drawbacks, but they also have enormous advantages, so we
must balance them to the disadvantages. Nanotechnology is also (experimentally) used in medicine.
Possible risks of nanotechnology are:
I. Human health/Environment, nano particles can enter the human body or other organisms in
nature. That’s why the whole debate is focussed on this part of nanotechnology, we don’t
know how these parts will interact with the human body or the organisms. People are afraid
of nano particles in the people working in the R&D stage and after that, they are afraid of
these particles possibly getting into the environment or into the users of these applications,
there is a certain unpredictability there as we don’t know how this exactly interacts and
works. You want the nano particles to go to a certain part of the human body, but the risk is
that it can go to other parts as well as it is so small.
II. Interfering with human’s autonomy, bodily integrity, or privacy. These are all soft drawbacks.
If magnet is put in/on someone’s head, it could prevent a person from walking through a red
traffic light, though it is a way to manipulate this person and exercise control.
There is a big problem for legislators with regard to nanotechnology, as in most countries the laws
with regard to the use of materials are too much focussed on the chemicals properties itself, instead
of its size. With manipulating the size, the properties of these materials change which is very
remarkable. Problems of size are not problems of the chemicals themselves anymore, and it is still a
problem to make legislators and policy makers get used to this problem. Governments and engineers
know that they have to proceed carefully in this debate, in order not to cause societal problems
before they even develop the technology further. In this part, there is quite some room for legislators
to innovate/intervene.
Efficiency and efficacy
Efficacy (doeltreffend) is aiming to result, efficiency is cost/benefit on how to reach the result.
Efficacy is answering the question: does a certain policy reach its goal, does it have a result? Always
about whether something realizes its effect or not.
Last week we discussed the history of information technology in order to show how fast the
developments are going.
Risks, evaluation, cost/benefits, issue of soft drawbacks. People think that risks are a different
category than moral drawbacks, but they are the same family. Soft drawbacks also matter.
This week the different forms of regulating human’s behaviour will be discussed and we’ll have look
at efficiency and efficacy.
Very often risks are related to health, life and the environment, so they often come in the form of
quantified units. Everyone can imagine what a risk is as the conceiving of it is very tangible. In
addition to the risks we distinguish the soft moral drawbacks, justice, dignity, freedom, privacy. It is
clever of policymakers to take into account the soft drawbacks in addition to the hard risks, for moral
reasons but also for strategic reasons: future acceptance of regulations and policies and for efficiency
and efficacy.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is already used in deodorants, water and filth resistant clothing, though it is still
quite controversial. There is possible drawbacks, but they also have enormous advantages, so we
must balance them to the disadvantages. Nanotechnology is also (experimentally) used in medicine.
Possible risks of nanotechnology are:
I. Human health/Environment, nano particles can enter the human body or other organisms in
nature. That’s why the whole debate is focussed on this part of nanotechnology, we don’t
know how these parts will interact with the human body or the organisms. People are afraid
of nano particles in the people working in the R&D stage and after that, they are afraid of
these particles possibly getting into the environment or into the users of these applications,
there is a certain unpredictability there as we don’t know how this exactly interacts and
works. You want the nano particles to go to a certain part of the human body, but the risk is
that it can go to other parts as well as it is so small.
II. Interfering with human’s autonomy, bodily integrity, or privacy. These are all soft drawbacks.
If magnet is put in/on someone’s head, it could prevent a person from walking through a red
traffic light, though it is a way to manipulate this person and exercise control.
There is a big problem for legislators with regard to nanotechnology, as in most countries the laws
with regard to the use of materials are too much focussed on the chemicals properties itself, instead
of its size. With manipulating the size, the properties of these materials change which is very
remarkable. Problems of size are not problems of the chemicals themselves anymore, and it is still a
problem to make legislators and policy makers get used to this problem. Governments and engineers
know that they have to proceed carefully in this debate, in order not to cause societal problems
before they even develop the technology further. In this part, there is quite some room for legislators
to innovate/intervene.
Efficiency and efficacy
Efficacy (doeltreffend) is aiming to result, efficiency is cost/benefit on how to reach the result.
Efficacy is answering the question: does a certain policy reach its goal, does it have a result? Always
about whether something realizes its effect or not.
