Ethics of Emerging Technologies: Scientific Facts and Moral Challenges

By Miriam D. Budinger and Thomas F. Budinger

An insightful guide to understanding and navigating the ethical issues faced by anyone affected by the ethical dilemmas associated with current and emerging technologies Ethics of Emerging Technologies provides the background, insight, and tools for approaching and solving ethical dilemmas across a broad range of topics. The text discusses ethical problems, using examples and reasoning tools that will aid engineers, scientists, managers, administrators, and the public who wish to understand risks, benefits, and possible approaches to resolving conflicts associated with new technologies in the context of the global community. Solutions we choose to ethical dilemmas accompanying new technologies will profoundly affect future generations. Scientific facts and guides to decision-making for all associated with emerging technologies are presented. Some of the topics are: * Human health and environmental effects of alternative energy production methods * Communications and privacy * Plagiarism and authorship * Genetic modification of organisms * Human and animal experimentation * Synthetic biology and bioterrorism * Confidentiality in science, engineering, and business communications * Risks and consequences of enhancing human beings through new technologies * Cloning of human beings and stem cell research * Brain modifications * Space exploration

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471692123
• ISBN13: 9780471692126
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.4" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Great book!

This is a really good book. VERY in depth and VERY detailed about a heck of a lot of pressing issues today. It really is a nice reference to have without having to google and search through a lot of filler material, this book gets straight to the point of all the current emerging issues. Examples, graphs, statistics, equations, and a lot of references help you to understand not only what the issue is about, but most importantly the differing points of views that may exist, the moral dillemas, and possible solutions. I not only enjoyed reading a lot of these just for my own pleasure in order to quench my appetite for some subjects and also strengthen my own arguments should I ever get into a discussion about the topics; but being in medical school, I know a lot of these issues WILL come up in practical scenarios and must be addressed, this book will help me do that in many ways.

Excellent and Complete Textbook

This book was published in 2006 and is written as a textbook for use in college courses. It contains problems at the end of the chapters. The book seemed very comprehensive and discussed pretty much all of the scientific ethics and moral challenges facing us. It includes chapters covering emerging technologies, stem cells,animal experiments, computer technology, alternative energy, medical, and other topics relevant to today. The text is interesting to read and the book never seems to bore.

Ethics of Emerging Technologies: Mediating Solutions for Progressive Ideologies and Traditional Mora

'Ethics of Emerging Technologies' will be a valuable resource-tool for scientists, technicians, engineers, businessmen, academics, politicians, doctors and, of course, for philosophers. This volume is important because it addresses the plethora of moral questions that have arisen, or will arise, as a consequence of recent scientific innovations and advancing technologies. Such topics as the Ethics of Stem-Cell Research, of Cloning, of Human and Animal Experimentation, of the Environment and of Emerging Technologies, are placed under the "microscope" of ethical scrutiny. Ultimately, the analysis of these controversial topics yields tons of scientific facts that are necessary for the solution of these issues in light of both progressive ideologies and traditional moral beliefs. The text is clear in its presentation of the facts, highlighting key points, providing detailed charts, tables and graphs. Also included is an exhaustive bibliography, pointing to relevant sources and a definitive and comprehensive glossary elucidating major terms. Overall, 'Ethics of Emerging Technologies' should be standard text-book reading at universities, hospitals, institutions and all general professions in the work-force.

Excellent reading and food for thought, read more...

This book is mostly text with very few illustrations. I love it though, you can pick up any chapter and there is a ton of food for thought. The first chapter that I read was "The Benefits and Problems Generated by Information Technology" since I am in that line of work. It is interesting that information technology is equated with the industrial revolution, although the pace is significantly faster in our modern world. It is completely changing our lives. It's very easy readings even though it may be overwhelming at first since it is in a very formal, hard-cover, text-book format. The sub-sections are broken into easy 1/2-1 page segments and there is a mix of serif and san-serif text that is easy to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this subject matter. I use mine as a coffee table book!!!

A Lot to Think About, Especially for Me

In 1969 my husband and a friend got a hold of some Bob Dylan tapes and through a series of misadventures made the first rock bootleg and they called it "Great White Wonder". Thus began a decade of recording concerts or getting unreleased studio tapes by hook or crook and putting them out for the public in plain white record jackets. Was this ethical, to many no. But we were poor, had dead end jobs and kids. The bootlegs pulled us out of poverty and even though we always knew it was stealing. And even though we never, ever copied any legitimate releases, never copied copy righted work, we knew it was stealing, we did. We could've copied recorded work, but that would have been unethical from out point of view. Our ethics said that if Bob Dylan, John Lennon or Mick Jagger didn't put it out, then we could. Yes it was stealing, but we weren't stealing money out of their pockets. We were, however, stealing their intellectual property (IP) and using it for our gain. However, it wasn't easy, we had to work at it and we were always just a jump ahead of the law. These days anybody can steal IP with a click of the mouse and distribute it all over the world. The record companies are all in the toilet because of it and it looks like the movie companies may follow. Even if you don't download CDs without paying, you can buy them at garage sales, burn them and resell them. Everybody does it, movies too. This book made me think about all that. Made me re-examine our youth and although I wouldn't change it a bit, I look at it a little differently now. This is a textbook and it covers much much more than just the ethics of IP plagiarism and piracy, but that's what interests me most. The book is well written for a textbook, never boring and all of the examples are interesting and current. Reviewed by Vesta Irene