In a market economy, the corporation
is the primary institution through which new technologies
are introduced. And the corporation, being
primarily interested in economic goals, may ask
very limited questions about the safety and workability
of a particular technology. This viewpoint
causes problems which manifest themselves in many
cases where the concerns of engineers and technicians
in corporations about decisions relating to a particular
technology clash with managers prone to
overlooking these concerns in favor of organizational
interests. The problem can be seen as a structural one
that is inherent in the capitalistic system. It can also
be seen as an organizational or policy problem that
requires changes in the organization to give engineers
more authority in decision-making or to facilitate
whistle-blowing on the part of engineers or technicians.
In this paper, we take the view that problems
surrounding the misuse of technology lie in a lack of
understanding of technology’s inherently social and
moral dimensions. Technology creates a moral situation,
and this situation should provide the context for
decision-making. Technology is also experimental,
and everyone involved with introducing a particular
technology needs to ask the question as to whether
a real life experiment is warranted. Finally, technology
demands a moral sensibility which recognizes that
business interests and technological interests alike need
to be understood in the network of concrete relational
contexts in which they are embedded.