IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2016 - 17
GUEST EDITORIAL
Ramona Pringle
Katina Michael
MG Michael
Unintended
Consequences of
Living with AI
n November 2015,
as editors, we started sorting through
submissions for a
special collection of
articles examining the paradox of
technological potential. Separately,
we published a call to the public at
large, asking "What comes to mind,
when you think about technology,
and unintended consequences?"
Then using a smart phone, we
documented handwritten responses
from people whose paths we crossed,
collecting submissions from individuals in both hemispheres. While geographically the contributors could
not have been further apart, psychologically, their responses echoed one
another in a resonant, prescient way.
In this way we were able to physically
capture the thoughts of a variety of
participants, and share them with
our co-editors across the globe in
near real time thanks to the marvels
of technology.
Simultaneously, the responses
we gathered noted some recurring
and challenging concerns. We heard
concerns about time, presence,
and disconnection. Many of these
responses have been archived in a
photographic collection [1].
Unanticipated consequences is
a sociological concept emphasized
by Robert K. Merton [2]. Although
later writers have interchanged the
I
The Paradox of Technological
Potential-Part II
"Tons of information but not enough understanding"
"Words cannot be swallowed once spoken."
"Too many distractions."
"...That unfortunate moment when you hit reply all."
notion of unintended consequences
with unanticipated consequences,
the two phrases are subtly but significantly different, despite being
deeply connected [3]. In general,
unintended consequences refer to
those not intended by a purposeful
action. Unanticipated consequences
are those with outcomes that were
not those that were foreseen. It follows then that an unintended consequence might/might not have been
anticipated (Table 1). It is also important to state that unintended consequences can have positive, negative,
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2016.2632978
Date of publication: 12 December 2016
DECember 2016
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
or even perverse [4] impacts on individuals, groups of people, or society
at large (Figure 1).
Some sociology of science scholars refer to this phenomenon more
generally as the law of unintended
consequences, defined as the actions
of people, groups, organizations, or
governments that may be either anticipated or unanticipated in effect. It is a
set of results that was not intended as
an outcome, but happened regardless.
The vast majority of people consider
unintended consequences to be disadvantageous, counterproductive,
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