Will We Accept Responsibility?

Abstract

This study began by explaining how philosophers such as Sunstein and Thaler argue that if technologies are mediating our actions (whether we design them to do so or not), we should take responsibility to make sure that this mediation is for the better. However, this suggestion suffers from two conflicting findings. As Latour made clear, the human-technology interaction is a complex black box of which the outcomes are often hard to predict. We cannot simply design the mediating role. Furthermore, the technological change of our actions prevents us from being autonomous, rational agents, who are free to determine our own course of actions. These conflicting notions led to the main question of this study: Can practitioners—such as scientists, engineers, commissions, R&D institutes, etc.—take responsibility for the social roles of technologies if these technologies mediate our actions (and therefore limit our autonomy) in ways that are hard to predict?.