The Assessment of Technology

Technological developments in the U.S. arise and evolve out of a multiplicity of decisions in industry, government and the marketplace. When individuals, corporations and public agencies consider exploiting or opposing a particular development, they attempt to project the potential gains and losses to themselves, and their decision usually turns on what they believe will maximize the gains and minimize the losses. This system has created an economy of great strength and versatility, but it also gives rise to troublesome imbalances that are evident in such phenomena as polluted air and deteriorating cities.

The difficulty is that self-interested analyses of the kind usually made are likely to ignore important implications of particular choices for sectors of society other than those represented in the initial decisions. In their pursuit of benefits for themselves or the segment of the public that they represent, those who make the relevant decisions often have little incentive, responsibility or authority to consider the possibility that a technological application might have undesirable consequences. For the same reasonsthey may fail to pursue technological opportunities that, from a broader perspective, might clearly deserve exploitation.

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