Sympathy for the cyborg: research visions in the information socieity

Abstract

Information and communications technologies are encroaching on every sphere of modern life. New modes of networking and cross-referencing are revolutionizing our management of data and thus the concept of knowledge itself. Now the advent of embedded technology and artificial intelligence promise to re-open the debate about whether we are becoming masters of technology or its slaves. Co-ordinating public policy with product-oriented R&D has never been more important, for either the economic or cultural future of Europe.

Challenges and priorities for European research: a foresight review

“…As the ICT paper shows, on the one hand, technological progress offers ordinary people a new voice. 49 ICTs have spawned new `virtual' communities, by supporting lobbies of networked NGOs, bottom-up democracy, open and online government, electronic voting, direct access to representatives, rapid diffusion of targeted information, and efficiency of administrative procedures. But it is not all positive.…”