Roboethics - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 64

fi ction associations (Forlizzi and diSalvo 2006 ). This may make it more diffi cult to
evaluate their probable advantages and disadvantages. However, as illustrated by
science fi ction accounts, robots have the potential to have a very signifi cant impact
on the shape of society in the future, though not necessarily the type of impacts
depicted in these stories. Some of these infl uences will be benefi cial, whereas others
will be harmful.
The development of new technologies is often determined by 'design drivers',
such as costs, timing and technical factors. These design drivers can determine the
goals to be achieved, such as the desired functionality and/or constraints, such as
limits on costs. Ethics is an equally important design driver which is often omitted
from discussion of technology development and other engineering projects.
Consideration of ethical factors as constraints may lead to decisions not to partici-
pate in or to cancel certain projects because they do not meet appropriate ethical
standards. Equally ethics can act as a goal to be achieved, with regard to, for
instance, the highest health and safety standards, lowest impacts on the environment
and applications which are valuable to humanity and the environment.
Robots have the potential to carry out a range of tasks previously carried out by
people, act autonomously at least to some extent and have a possibly high degree of
intelligence. This raises a number of important ethical issues related to the wider
impacts of robots on society, including with regard to employment, deskilling, need
for reskilling, human relationships and human-robot relationships. In addition, if it
does prove possible (which is as yet still questionable) to develop robots with a high
degree of intelligence and even some self-awareness, there may also be issues of the
responsibilities of humanity to them. For instance, is it ethical to treat an intelligent
and possibly self-aware robot as an object and does it have rights? Increasingly
intelligent and autonomous robots are likely to have an increasing infl uence on soci-
ety, raising further ethical issues.
The development of robotics and, in particular, advanced applications is still at an
early stage. It is therefore a good time to consider the wider implications of robots
and their effects on society and the environment in order to make decisions as to the
ways in which we want to use robots and the types of developments that we do and
do not want in order to shape the society of the future. Otherwise, we give in to tech-
nological determinism (Ellul 1954 ; Winner 1977 ) according to which technology is
all powerful and, in the strongest versions, totally determines the future of society in
ways which are not possible to resist. The engineering community needs to take
responsibility for future developments in robotics and their impacts on society, rather
than giving in to technological determinism and the assumption that all possible
technological developments should be implemented. There are also highly complex
power relations and dynamics that affect choices about the development and use of
technology and whose interests they serve (Stapleton and Hersh 2003 ), often leading
to advantage to some groups and disadvantage to others and frequently also to the
environment. Understanding of both the ethical issues and the power dynamics
related to technology development will better enable the robotics community to
resist them and ensure that the development of robots benefi ts human society, par-
ticularly its poorest and most disadvantaged members, and the environment.