Deck 14: A Critical Attitude to Technology

Question 1

Does modern technology make us better off? Why or why not?

Answer 1

No Answer.

Question 2

Are engineers better equipped to criticize new technologies than others? Explain.

Answer 2

No Answer.

Question 3

Should we accept Hans Jonas's "Imperative of responsibility"? Explain.

Answer 3

No Answer.

Question 4

Should we fear technological disasters? Explain.

Question 5

Will your children be better off because of the technologies that are being developed today? Explain.

Question 6

Which of the following describes some common general attitudes toward technology?

A) Technological optimism, technological pessimism, technological determinism, and a critical attitude toward technology
B) Technological optimism, technological pessimism, technological solipsism, and technological constructivism
C) Technological optimism, technological pessimism, technological universalism, and technological constructivism
D) Technological optimism, technological pessimism, technological universalism, and technological realism

Question 7

One consideration in favor of technological optimism is

A) nuclear weapons.
B) social media.
C) the automobile.
D) vaccines.

Question 8

According to technological pessimists,

A) the overall value of technological progress is likely to decrease in the future.
B) technological progress has no intrinsic value.
C) technological progress has no instrumental value.
D) b and c

Question 9

Technological optimists stress that, all things considered, humans are much better off today than ever before, which is largely due to technological innovations. The optimist believes that

A) not every single technology has turned out to be beneficial, but modern technology as a whole has brought us enormous benefits.
B) technology is valuable in an intrinsic sense.
C) technology is valuable for its own sake.
D) technology has final value: It is the endpoint of a chain of instrumentally valuable entities.

Question 10

Technological optimists believe that

A) all things considered, humans are much better off today than ever before, and this improvement is largely due to technological innovations.
B) modern technology as a whole has brought us enormous benefits.
C) many problems we face in today's society can be solved by new technological innovations.
D) All of the above

Question 11

According to the critical attitude to technology,

A) technological pessimists are too cynical and gloomy while optimists are too naïve.
B) while it is true that some technologies sometimes have negative effects on society, this is not true of all, or even most, technologies.
C) we should make negative remarks only when appropriate, typically at an early stage when the technology is still in the design phase, but we have no reason to make negative or positive remarks about technology as such.
D) All of the above

Question 12

If we take a critical attitude to technology, we should

A) emphasize the negative effects of modern technology in society.
B) criticize modern technology and highlight its negative intrinsic and instrumental value.
C) do what we can to not use modern technology whenever possible; ancient technologies are almost always better.
D) refrain from making negative or positive remarks about technology as such. Some particular technologies are good, and others are bad, just as some restaurants are good and others are bad.

Question 13

The Tesla fatal autonomous driver accident was caused by

A) a bug that the engineers had not worked out.
B) poor programming of the computer.
C) purely human error.
D) overreliance on the autonomous system.

Question 14

The IEEE advocates that AI should be designed and operated so at to respect and fulfill human rights, freedoms, dignity, etc. This is an example of a response to

A) transhumanism.
B) the value alignment problem.
C) the Tesla accident.
D) Skynet.

Question 15

According to Hans Jonas, modern technology has created a situation in which

A) no previous ethical system is sufficient to guide us.
B) humanity's fate is now certain.
C) humans are happier than ever.
D) humans have become sustainable.

Question 16

According to Hans Jonas, one of the most important differences between modern and primitive technologies is

A) the power to alter the human condition.
B) our technology is not sustainable.
C) we are closer to human immortality.
D) we have generated more human freedom.

Question 17

Which claim of Jonas's might utilitarians contest?

A) Duty is the central moral concept.
B) Previous moral theories are anthropocentric.
C) Kant was right.
D) Sustainability is our primary concern.

Question 18

Jonas's ethical principle is a natural extension of

A) ethical egoism.
B) utilitarianism.
C) Kantian duty ethics.
D) social constructivism.

Question 19

The imperative of responsibility holds that

A) we should halt technological progress until we can do so responsibly.
B) humans are responsible for the environment.
C) we should act so that the effects of our actions are compatible with permanent human life.
D) we should adopt human happiness as primary responsibility.

Question 20

Which of the following is an important criticism of Jonas?

A) The earth has plenty of resources.
B) Humans will go extinct eventually.
C) There is more to ethics than happiness.
D) Technological progress is inevitable.

Question 21

How do technological pessimists respond to technofixes like CDR and SRM?

A) Technology causes global warming it can't fix it.
B) We don't have sufficient control over the environment.
C) We don't know what other problems this technology might cause.
D) All of the above

Question 22

Which of the following is not an example of a proposed technofix to one of society's serious problems?

A) Troll Hunter
B) SRM
C) Tesla Roadster
D) Robots to take care of old people

Question 23

Technological optimists favor measures like robots caring for the old. Which of the following questions might van de Poel think we should ask before using technology like this?

A) Have users given informed consent?
B) Are there any irreversible effects of this technology?
C) Can users stop using the technology?
D) All of the above

Question 24

The Amish restrict telephones because they

A) do not trust multinational corporations.
B) wish to remain independent from the outside world.
C) worry it will undermine social cohesion.
D) are worried about it stealing their souls.

Question 25

How do the Amish explain the difference between their use of technology and ours?

A) Modern technology is intrinsically evil and so they avoid it.
B) Modern technology causes more problems than it solves.
C) Modern technology makes us less human.
D) Technology is to be assessed for instrumental value for human purposes, and Amish have different purposes.