When everyone begins pursuing their rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness we are bound to step on each other’s toes.  This begs the need for regulations.  And this leads to the question as to “what is moral behavior”; and what are the ethics that emanate from the selected definitions of moral behavior. There is no dearth of defined moral behavior created by religions and their leaders, business persons, politicians, philosophers, and in some cases “the everyday person on the street”.

Example technologies at play today include nuclear energy; biological manipulations for warfare; robots for taking care of the elderly, and enhancing human capability; the use of technology for surveillance; the cultural changing power of the media which can create unlimited arrays of images real and virtual to support a point of view; and the internet with its world wide connectivity.

We need to look into social/technology assessment, the transfer of the technology as it is placed into practice, and the techniques/processes that are available for control within the legal, political, institutional and attitudinal environment within which the technology is placed as a way of protecting our rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. 

Week One: Introduction to Technology, Ethics, and Culture

Week Two: Intellectual Architecture and Analysis

Week Three: Developing a Case Study

Week Four: Technology Impact: Assessing the Case Study

Week Five: Social Impact and the Legal/Political Environment
Week Six: Case Study Review

Week Seven: Course Reflection