Do You See What I See?

Thanks to technology, hopefully not.

Would you invest in contact lenses that were mini-computers capable of displaying e-mail or the Internet?  Would you want someone else to?  What if that person were driving a car?  

I’m wrapping up a semester of teaching Technology & Ethics.  One of the issues that I bring up is that technologists don’t control how their inventions are used.  As such, sometimes, the only ethical option may be not to participate in developing a technology that could be seriously misused or abused.  The problem with this from a practical standpoint is that just because you don’t work on the project doesn’t mean the technology isn’t going to be developed.  It is possible that you yourself may have to face financial or professional setbacks because of the ethical standards you hold, while not ultimately preventing something from being created.  Ethics can hurt.

This article only mentions the possible difficulties with the technology – what are the possible adverse affects on our biology, how might we be physically injured directly from the technology.  It doesn’t deal with any other type of harm.  Such as the harm of potentially millions of drivers reading an e-mail while they *think* they’re paying attention to the road.  Or the harm of potentially exposing people to media for literally every waking moment.  Neither of which are uses I’m sure the technologists envision – but that doesn’t mean it won’t be how their work is utilized.