Ethical Considerations in Technology Adoption
Ethical Considerations in Technology Adoption
Technology adoption has many positive outcomes when implemented the right way. In equal measure technology also has the capacity to wreck havoc and reduce trust when the correct ethical considerations are not put in place. The ethical considerations in technology adoption is an ongoing global discourse that has somehow not found the correct workarounds that are applicable in every context. Some approaches that are applicable in a specific community will raise eyebrows and become a recipe for chaos in another social group. Most of the ethical considerations have been raised in the field of healthcare with recent IOT and robotics advancements raising critical questions on how technology is implemented in agriculture.
Ethical Considerations in Agriculture
Agriculture is the backbone of the global economy. Many indigenous communities pride themselves on relying on organically grown food and animal supplies. In such societies it is considered honorable to manually work on the farms and other production activities such as feeding and monitoring the animals. The labor required for farm activities is a source of employment and economic stability for many members of the community. With technology advancements tools such as robotic driven harvesters, automated milking machines and AI powered machines that can accurately weed out farms have been implemented. The IOT advancements in agriculture have proved to be very useful and driving yields. For instance a robotic arm that can harvest strawberries would be able to work day and night without fatigue and even in very dry conditions that a human being would not handle for a long time. Similarly an automated milking machine does the job at a faster rate than manual milking especially for a large number of cows.
The crucial ethical questions that have been raised in regard to technology advancement in agriculture include lab developed seeds and plants. Many people believe that lab developed crops have health implications and also do not contain the nutritious benefits that are gained from indigenous plants. Another ethical question has been on the safety of Sensor technologies embedded for monitoring cows. These sensors utilize 5G technology to send real-time data such as health behaviors, feeding habits and movements throughout the day. Some animal welfare activists have questioned the safety of 5G technology for long-term use on the cow’s body. The main pointers are that the wearable devices might be uncomfortable for the cows and sometimes lead to physical harm. Ultimately, the major question is that overreliance on technology in agriculture leads to reduced need for human labor affecting livelihoods for many people who rely on agriculture for their daily provision.
Ethical considerations in Healthcare
Digital health platforms offer a great reprieve for users to access healthcare information and realtime consultations with convenience and ease. The health innovations also extend to wearable IOT solutions such as smart watches that monitor important vitals and help users keep track of their health metrics. The major concerns around technology implementation are based on trust and data safety. Health data is confidential and for long medical records have been safeguarded in safes and only shared to authorized medical personnel with permission from the patient. Many users are afraid that with the use of technology tools their medical data might become publicly available especially in the age where AI developers and data scientists are eager to obtain datasets for further training of models. Despite anonymization of health data it is still not full proof that this data cannot be traced back to the correct patient identification details.
Recent developments in the cyber security space have exposed cyber threats that have top tier security designs such as finance. There is limited regulation as to how data from wearable devices and online wellness applications is stored or utilized. Ultimately the owners of these platforms retain the right to utilize the data for their analysis. Some of the digital health platform owners do not explicitly disclose that the data may also be accessed by other third parties. When making inferences it is difficult to have the assurance that these systems have been trained on quality data and approved by qualified healthcare stakeholders. Without proper regulation and transparency on the user data it will take a considerable period of time for users to gain confidence and trust in the capacity of digital health platforms to act as a safe and trusted alternative for healthcare information.
How to Build Confidence and Trust in Technology Advancements
One sector where trust in technology seems to thrive is in finance technology. Across the world users have strongly embraced mobile and electronic finance solutions. The main drivers for the increased adoption is convenience and trust. Within a few minutes an individual is able to complete a transaction and they have the assurance that the transaction will be completed successfully. Users of mobile finance channels are also assured that their bank balances remain correct and money cannot be withdrawn from the account without the account owner’s prior authorization. Some of the concerns raised in agriculture and health can as well be solved if there is confidence among users on the capacity of the systems to work without exposing user data or causing physical harm .
Technology offers efficient and faster processes to completing tasks. For instance, in some countries people have to wait in very long queues for them to be able to see a doctor. In such places telehealth medicine would come in handy to ensure people have timely healthcare access. However, users would not easily put the trust of their healthcare on a computerized system. In addition to the chances of medical errors many people feel comfortable getting medical advice from a human being. The idea is that a computer based system has only been trained to give specific outcomes based on symptoms and might not consider all underlying factors if a patient’s symptoms vary. It might take a few other decades for users to have full trust in AI based healthcare systems. For now most users are getting used to the idea of AI tools for medical advice and monitoring of health vitals for patients with terminal illnesses that need round the clock monitoring. Perhaps exposing the systems to diverse user groups in multicultural environments. Health outcomes are different in each society based on underlying factors such as climate, lifestyles and genetic factors.
Conclusion
Technology advancement is a welcome progression to enhancing efficiency, accessibility and productivity. Particularly, agriculture and healthcare are crucial sectors in any community. People tend to be very careful about what they consume and how they seek healthcare. The offsets of increased productivity sometimes outweigh the perceived ethical concern in technology backed agriculture processes. Similarly, while many users would want to get healthcare services more efficiently on digital channels they have concerns on how their health data is used. Without a clear legal structure and input from end users the uptake of agriculture and healthcare technologies will progress at a slower phase than anticipated.