Society and Technology

21 Oct Autonomous Systems: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues

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Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) (RAEng)
2009
Autonomous systems are likely to emerge in a number of areas over the coming decades. These technologies can promise great benefits, replacing humans in tasks that are mundane, dangerous and dirty, or detailed and precise. They also have potential in allowing the remote performance of various functions.  However such technologies raise a number of social, legal and ethical issues.  The focus of this short document is on two emerging areas of technology – transport, in terms of autonomous road vehicles; and personal care and support, in the form of artificial companions and smart homes. It is a report of the discussion at a roundtable meeting held at The Royal Academy of Engineering. The meeting involved stakeholders from a range of areas, including medicine and healthcare, transport, defence, systems engineering, computer science, financial systems, public engagement and policy development.
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21 Oct The proper use of the Precautionary Principle

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National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2011
The Precautionary Principle (PP), introduced into the French Constitution in 2004, is the epicentre of a passionate debate involving the whole of society. Is it then possible to identify the “proper use” of this principle which would allow, between irresponsibility and immobilization, the ways to construct a shared progress serving everyone? Without taking a binary position “pro” or “contra”, the NATF is making 4 main recommendations: 1. It affirms that PP is a Principle of Action, 2. Technical and scientific expertise is indispensible and should always be included in debates but the final decision belongs to the political world. 3. Legal difficulties related to applying the PP to important societal issues must be solved. 4. Application of the PP beyond the sanitary and environmental issues should be considered with a lot of caution.
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21 Oct Innovation plan Sweden

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Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering (IVA)
2011
– A basis for a Swedish innovation strategy INNOVATION FOR GROWTH – from talk to action The key to Sweden’s future prosperity is renewal – innovation. The objective of Innovation for Growth is to use concrete proposals and a broad-based dialogue to increase Sweden’s innovative power, enabling Sweden to become the world’s most attractive nation in which to live and thrive. Many nations today are rallying to address the issue of innovation. Innovation is an important part of the solution to the major societal challenges the world faces today; not least in a situation plagued by economic crisis and a lack of confidence in the political direction in Europe and the US. By developing innovation strategies, nations want to strengthen their comparative advantages to meet these challenges, while at the same time creating the right general conditions for growth in industry and the rest of society.
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21 Oct Strategic performance assessment for ESA’s MELiSSA Project

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Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering (IVA)
2011
The Micro Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA) was first initiated by Claude Chipaux at Matra’s Space Branch in 1986 as a potential life support system project for the French Space Agency, CNES. An initial MELiSSA experiment was on board a Chinese Long March rocket in 1987. This two compartment flight experiment, utilising two bacterial strains producing and consuming CO2 and O2 respectively, led to MELiSSA’s first publication in 1988. MELiSSA is today tasked with creating a regenerative life support system with the following functions: black water and grey water treatment, urine treatment, other waste treatment (= overall waste recycling from astronauts), food production, oxygen production and water recycling (= overall consumption needs of astronauts). These functions are divided into engineering units, tested separately and then integrated and tested together on the ground. Individual units or parts thereof are being tested in spaceflight and there are plans to test the overall system in spaceflight in the 2030s.
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21 Oct Philosophy of Engineering (Vol II)

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Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) (RAEng)
2011
This is the second volume of a series of papers presented at The Royal Academy of Engineering, for its series on philosophy and engineering. The first part of this volume tackles some deep philosophical issues on which engineering has a bearing. These include the nature of mind and language; conceptual distinctions in science, engineering and common sense; engineering‘s influence on the fundamental categories in nature, and the nature of knowledge.
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