Technological Justice by Intentional Design

About Technological Justice by Intentional Design

Abstract

Christians are called to act justly. Creatively developing and designing products can result in technology that improves the cause of justice in the world, but the results of our engineering can also create situations of injustice. In this paper, I will begin with a brief sampling of the literature of justice, touching on theological perspectives such as Niebuhr; philosophical perspectives such as Rawls, Norzick, and Wolterstorff; and political perspectives such as King and Tutu. I will then examine the intentionality of the technology designer and evaluate the cause of justice in the devices we build. Justice is not always easy to obtain. Consider that injustice can result from unintentional consequences even when good design practices are followed. Poor design practices that lead to injustice can be labeled negligence. Worse, injustice can be intentionally created when we know the unfair consequences of a design alternative but choose it anyway. Whereas injustice can result without our active intent, justice must be an intentional, willful choice (because of our fallen and fallible nature). Technological justice might be the elimination of injustice created by a previous technology, or the design of technology to eliminate an injustice that could not be solved any other way, or perhaps technology provides the communication mediums that fortify the political will to solve a social justice issue. In order to achieve technological justice, one must make astute choices based on Biblical principles when designing, fielding, using, and disposing of technology.