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Just Technology: e Quest for Cultural, Economic, Environmental, and Technical Sustainability
omas J. Siller and Gearold Johnson
www.morganclaypool.com
ISBN: 9781681733821 paperback
ISBN: 9781681733838 ebook
ISBN: 9781681733845 hardcover
DOI 10.2200/S00857ED1V01Y201805SDE001
A Publication in the Morgan & Claypool Publishers series
SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Lecture #1
Series Editor: omas J. Siller, Colorado State University
Series ISSN
Print 1933-3633 Electronic 1933-3641
Just Technology
e Quest for Cultural, Economic, Environmental,
and Technical Sustainability
omas J. Siller and Gearold Johnson
Colorado State University
SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT #1
C
M
&
cLaypoolMor
gan publishers
&
ABSTRACT
To address the complexity of today’s global challenges requires new ways of thinking. e idea
that technology is always the best, maybe only, approach worth taking needs to be reconsidered.
Sustainable approaches must also draw from non technological areas. To that end, this book in-
troduces the idea of just technology by rephrasing the idea of just war in order to include concepts
of sustainability in future engineering design. e book begins by defining justice and relating
these definitions to technology. is is followed by illustrating several notions of sustainability
and the awareness that needs to be focused on societal challenges due to the finite resources
available in the natural world. Four questions are enumerated to be addressed in order to qualify
as a just use of technology: (1) Is the harm being inflicted by the problem on the community, the
environment, or humanity, in general lasting, serious, and certain? (2) Have all alternative solu-
tions been investigated first, including non-technology-based solutions? Technology is the last
choice, not the first! (3) Do we have confidence in the successful implementation of this techno-
logical solution? and (4) Is the potential harm from the technological solution potentially worse
than the issue being addressed? Have all unintended consequences been considered that could
arise from the technological solution? e book ends with a description for implementing these
questions into the traditional engineering design process. Examples are included for reflection
and help to understand how the design process proceeds.
KEYWORDS
justice, just war, just technology, sustainability, sustainable design, engineering de-
sign, societal challenges, environment, economics, alternative solutions, unintended
consequences
vii
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Definition of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Related Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.5 Book Outline—What’s To Come . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PART I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2
Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Types of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1 Maximize Welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 Respect Individual Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.3 Cultivate Virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Principle of Prima Facie Political Equality (Ppepe) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Just War Framework For Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3
Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Optimistic Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 Pessimistic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4 e Middle Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.5 Justice and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.6 What to Do if it Is a Myth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
viii
PART II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4
Gatekeeping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5
Question 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.2 Lasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.3 Harmful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.4 Certain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.5 Problem Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.7 Chapter Example: Justice Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.7.1 Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.7.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.7.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.7.4 Reflective Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
6
Question 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.4 Chapter Example: Justice Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.4.1 Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.4.2 Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.4.3 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
6.4.4 Reflective Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
7
Question 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7.2 Traditional Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
7.2.1 Just Technology Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
7.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7.4 Chapter Example: Justice Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.4.1 Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.4.2 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.4.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
7.4.4 Reflective Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
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