Trust in Technological Systems
Technology is a practically indispensible means for satisfying one’s basic interests in all central areas of human life including nutrition, habitation, health care, entertainment, transportation, and social interaction. It is impossible for any one perso
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Trust in Technological Systems Philip J. Nickel
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Introduction
Technology is a practically indispensible means for satisfying one’s basic interests in all central areas of human life including nutrition, habitation, health care, entertainment, transportation, and social interaction.1 It is impossible for any one person, even a well-trained scientist or engineer, to know enough about how technology works in these different areas to make a calculated choice about whether to rely on the vast majority of the technologies she/he in fact relies upon. Yet, there are substantial risks, uncertainties, and unforeseen practical consequences associated with the use of technological artefacts and systems. The salience of technological failure (both catastrophic and mundane), as well as technology’s sometimes unforeseeable influence on our behavior, makes it relevant to wonder whether we are really justified as individuals in our practical reliance on technology. Of course, even if we are not justified, we might nonetheless continue in our technological reliance, since the alternatives might not be attractive or feasible. In this chapter I argue that a conception of trust in technological artefacts and systems is plausible and helps us understand what is at stake philosophically in our reliance on technology. Such an account also helps us understand the relationship between trust and technological risk and the ethical obligations of those who design, manufacture, and deploy technological artefacts. First, a terminological remark. I will use the terms artefact and technological system in a nonstandard way in this chapter. By an artefact, I mean a relatively discrete object or component part of an object that has been created intentionally for 1
We may distinguish between welfare interests and ulterior interests. Welfare interests are those interests which are assumed to be had by any person, such as freedom of movement, ownership of property, life, and health. Ulterior interests are related the specific goals of individuals, such as the desire to own a motorboat, to travel to Hawaii, or to start an organic farm. See Feinberg (1984).
P.J. Nickel (*) Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] M.J. de Vries et al. (eds.), Norms in Technology, Philosophy of Engineering and Technology 9, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5243-6_14, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
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a particular function. By a technological system, I mean a constellation of artefacts that work more or less in conjunction with one another and that create or enable some form of activity. An example of an artefact is a washing machine, or a heating element in a washing machine. An example of a technological system is an array of appliances and component parts, appliance repair equipment, electrical and water supply lines, drainpipes, electrical outlets, detergents, clothing instruction tags, and so forth that together make our activity of washing clothes possible. This contrasts with the stand
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