2.2 Impacts of Technology
11
Unintended impacts can occur over the entire life cycle of a product (see Fig. 2.1).
The result of industrial chemical production, for example, is not just a chemical
product with its desired effect or function but also any associated side effects.
While it is already difficult enough to find and explain the desired effects of a
product, a clear understanding of its side effects is often many times more complex.
Here, the linearity of cause-and-effect thinking is broken up into a network of
possible side effects not just in terms of environmental or health impacts but also
including changes of consumers’ preferences, more visible roles of environmental
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), lawsuits, etc. (Beck, 1992; Grunwald,
2002).
The dilemma of technological as well as societal progress is that it can endanger
the safety and prosperity of present and future generations by accepting new
technical and ecological risks in the pursuit of material well-being and safety.
Compared to the risks humans faced hundreds of years ago, the modern risks faced
today differ not only in terms of time and space but also in psychological and social
terms. For example, today’s risks:
• Are global and can cross societal boundaries and even relate to the biosphere as
a whole
• Threaten present and, to a certain extent, also future generations
• Have a complexity that often prevents detection, and identification of the source,
of a problem
• Often elude direct perception by the human senses
Risk has become a key factor in the context of the uncertainty of technical
progress. To better understand, the term itself should be more formally introduced.
2.2.2 The Concept of Risk
Risk is used in everyday language in various contexts. For example, the words “danger,” “luck,” and “thrill” can all be associated with the term risk and have meanings
with both positive and negative attributes. In economics, risk is understood as the
variance of an average value, i.e., it has both positive and negative effects. Risk as a
technical term as it is used here, however, describes only undesirable possible future
events or outcomes. 1
Accordingly, risk is understood in the context of chemical products and processes
as the potential (probability) for harm (impact) to protected goods by specific,
1 In the different fields covered in this book, sometimes different conventions are used for the
names of important concepts and for the symbols of variables. This includes, for example, the
terms “impact” and “consequences” for an (adverse) outcome of an event and the symbols p and
P for the probability of an event. Because these conventions are well established in the respective
fields, they are used in different chapters of this book in parallel and without harmonization.
11
Unintended impacts can occur over the entire life cycle of a product (see Fig. 2.1).
The result of industrial chemical production, for example, is not just a chemical
product with its desired effect or function but also any associated side effects.
While it is already difficult enough to find and explain the desired effects of a
product, a clear understanding of its side effects is often many times more complex.
Here, the linearity of cause-and-effect thinking is broken up into a network of
possible side effects not just in terms of environmental or health impacts but also
including changes of consumers’ preferences, more visible roles of environmental
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), lawsuits, etc. (Beck, 1992; Grunwald,
2002).
The dilemma of technological as well as societal progress is that it can endanger
the safety and prosperity of present and future generations by accepting new
technical and ecological risks in the pursuit of material well-being and safety.
Compared to the risks humans faced hundreds of years ago, the modern risks faced
today differ not only in terms of time and space but also in psychological and social
terms. For example, today’s risks:
• Are global and can cross societal boundaries and even relate to the biosphere as
a whole
• Threaten present and, to a certain extent, also future generations
• Have a complexity that often prevents detection, and identification of the source,
of a problem
• Often elude direct perception by the human senses
Risk has become a key factor in the context of the uncertainty of technical
progress. To better understand, the term itself should be more formally introduced.
2.2.2 The Concept of Risk
Risk is used in everyday language in various contexts. For example, the words “danger,” “luck,” and “thrill” can all be associated with the term risk and have meanings
with both positive and negative attributes. In economics, risk is understood as the
variance of an average value, i.e., it has both positive and negative effects. Risk as a
technical term as it is used here, however, describes only undesirable possible future
events or outcomes. 1
Accordingly, risk is understood in the context of chemical products and processes
as the potential (probability) for harm (impact) to protected goods by specific,
1 In the different fields covered in this book, sometimes different conventions are used for the
names of important concepts and for the symbols of variables. This includes, for example, the
terms “impact” and “consequences” for an (adverse) outcome of an event and the symbols p and
P for the probability of an event. Because these conventions are well established in the respective
fields, they are used in different chapters of this book in parallel and without harmonization.