Conclusions and Looking to the Future - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 357

Most engineers would no doubt want to work on technologies that they could
clearly see will be of wide benefi t, but as some of the examples in this topic have
indicated, that may not be easy or clear-cut. The concept of a potential 'use-abuse'
dichotomy has been used to describe the way that it is often not the technology itself
which is the issue but the ways in which it is used. Technologies can be developed
for socially admirable purposes, but they can also be misused in reprehensible
and abhorrent ways. Thus, technologies can probably be divided into three groups:
(1) inherently 'good' technologies, with overwhelmingly positive applications;
(2) technologies which potentially have both applications which are benefi cial
to humanity, other species and/or the environment and applications which are
damaging; and (3) technologies whose main applications are damaging to humanity,
other species and/or the environment and which have few or only trivial benefi cial
applications.
Different engineers will differ about which technologies fi t into which of these
categories and it is possible that most technologies are in the second category. For
instance, some, possibly most of the authors of this topic, consider that specifi cally
military technologies lead to the escalation of confl icts and increase the number of
deaths and injuries and the area over which they take place while having no sig-
nifi cant positive applications. This is particularly true for chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons and the increasing numbers of small arms, but also arguably holds
for low-level military technologies even, in some peoples' view, for bows and
arrows and swords. Given human history to date, disarmament to this extent may be
unrealistic, and certainly not all engineers agree with this premise. Many of them
are involved in the so-called 'defence' industry. As discussed in Chap. 11 , this is
rarely about defence, and there are better ways to reduce the likelihood of confl ict
by solving underlying problems relating to the environment, justice and distribution
of resources.
As discussed in Chaps. 3 , 4 and 11 , there are also new threats from the use of
robots, drones and cyberweapons in warfare and the militarization of space. These
raise issues which hopefully many engineers will fi nd worrying and feel moved to
take action on. It is much easier to 'outlaw' particular uses of technology before they
become established.
In most areas of technology, impacts on the environment and the need for
sustainable development are being recognized as important political issues on
which action is required. This affects engineers in two important ways: (1) design
choices to reduce environmental impacts and (2) involvement in the development of
socially and environmentally appropriate technologies. Design choices include
those related to the types of materials and processes used, design for low energy
consumption, the use of locally sourced materials and components, and design for
end-of-life reuse, refurbishing and recycling.
The concept of socially and environmentally appropriate technologies, often
seen as 'alternative technologies' to existing technologies, dates to the 1970s when a
range of ideas for less-damaging technologies emerged. However, the approach has
sometimes been oversimplistic with a division into 'good' and 'bad' technologies.
For instance, particular concern was and is still raised by energy technologies.