Transdisciplinary co-design of scientific research agendas: 40 research questions for socially relevant climate engineering research

Sugiyama, Masahiro; Asayama, Shinichiro; Kosugi, Toshihiko; Ishii, Atsushi; Emori, Seita; Adachi, J; Akimoto, Keigo; Fujiwara, Masatomo; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Hibi, Yasushi; Hirata, Kimiko; Ishii, Tôru; Kaburagi, Takeshi; Kita, Yuki; Kobayashi, Shigeki; Kurosawa, Atsushi; Kuwata, Manabu; Masuda, Kooiti; Mitsui, Makoto; Miyata, Taku; Mizutani, Hiroshi; Nakayama, Sumie; Oyamada, Kazuyo; Sashida, Takaaki; Sekiguchi, M; Toko, Kiyoshi; Takamura, Yukari; Taki, Junichi; Taniguchi, Taketoshi; Tezuka, Hiroyuki; Ueno, Tomo; Watanabe, Shingo; Watanabe, Rie; Yamagishi, Naoyuki; Yoshizawa, Go

doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0376-2

Cited by 29 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…The goals of the European ERT, as well as those of a previous Japanese ERT [31] that took place in February 2017 [32], read as follows:…”

Section: Identifying Unintended Side Effects Of Digital Transitioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A transdisciplinary process [28][29][30], is a knowledge-integration-based, real-world, problem-oriented discourse including representatives from all key stakeholder groups that is intended to generate socially robust orientations on critical issues of sustainable development [28,29]. For instance, the facilitation of the adaptation and/or the mitigation process for those who cannot benefit from the desired advantages of digital transitioning may become the subject of a transdisciplinary process related to the Digital Revolution.The goals of the European ERT, as well as those of a previous Japanese ERT [31] that took place in February 2017 [32], read as follows:• Goal 1: Identify positive or negative unsee(ns) that are linked to digital transitioning; • Goal 2: Reflect on the way(s) in which the unsee(ns) can best become subjects of science in an overarching way; • Goal 3: Project (from the science perspective) which unsee(ns) might become subjects of transdisciplinary processes (i.e., science-practice discourses that relate different types of knowledge in order to efficaciously master complex, relevant societal challenges).The present paper presents and classifies the unseens and compares them with those from a Japanese ERT which took place in February 2017 and develops a bigger picture on sensitive domains which are not yet well understood and which ask for further research policy means. The propositions of Appendix A address the above goals and a basic pillar of this paper.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table

et al. 2018

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Abstract:We present the main messages of a European Expert Round Table (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of the digital transition. Seventeen experts provided 42 propositions from ten different perspectives as input for the ERT. A full-day ERT deliberated communalities and relationships among these unseens and provided suggestions on (i) what the major unseens are; (ii) how rebound effects of digital transitioning may become the subject of overarching research; and (iii) what unseens should become subjects of transdisciplinary theory and practice processes for developing socially robust orientations. With respect to the latter, the experts suggested that the "ownership, economic value, use and access of data" and, related to this, algorithmic decision-making call for transdisciplinary processes that may provide guidelines for key stakeholder groups on how the responsible use of digital data can be developed. A cluster-based content analysis of the propositions, the discussion and inputs of the ERT, and a theoretical analysis of major changes to levels of human systems and the human-environment relationship resulted in the following greater picture: The digital transition calls for redefining economy, labor, democracy, and humanity. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based machines may take over major domains of human labor, reorganize supply chains, induce platform economics, and reshape the participation of economic actors in the value chain. (Digital) Knowledge and data supplement capital, labor, and natural resources as major economic variables. Digital data and technologies lead to a post-fuel industry (post-) capitalism. Traditional democratic processes can be (intentionally or unintentionally) altered by digital technologies. The unseens in this field call for special attention, research and management. Related to the conditions of ontogenetic and phylogenetic development (humanity), the ubiquitous, global, increasingly AI-shaped interlinkage of almost every human personal, social, and economic activity and the exposure to indirect, digital, artificial, fragmented, electronically mediated data affect behavioral, cognitive, psycho-neuro-endocrinological processes on the level of the individual and thus social relations (of groups and families) and culture, and thereby, the essential quality and character of the human being (i.e., humanity). The findings suggest a need for a new field of research, i.e., focusing on sustainable digital societies and environments, in which the identification, analysis, and management of vulnerabilities and unseens emerging in the sociotechnical digital transition play an important role.Keywords: digital transformation; digital curtain; digital vaulting; unintended side effects (unseens), proposition-based expert round tables Scope and Goals Digitalization as a Main Driver of Human Socio-Cultural EvolutionThe digital revolution comprises one of the major transitions of human development. We may consider it to be as critical as the mastery of fire, the development of lang...

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“…The goals of the European ERT, as well as those of a previous Japanese ERT [31] that took place in February 2017 [32], read as follows:…”

Section: Identifying Unintended Side Effects Of Digital Transitioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table

et al. 2018

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“…1 In light of such discussions, many scholars argue that there is an urgent need to assess the proposed climate engineering options from social and natural scientific perspectives (Healey and Rayner 2015). Climate engineering is a controversial topic in the scientific debates (Stilgoe 2015). For many observers, the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degree ambition was considered provocative as it requires immediate radical emission cuts and measures that enable net negative emissions to offset the effects of greenhouse gases, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making sense of climate engineering: a focus group study of lay publics in four countries

et al. 2017

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This study explores sense-making about climate engineering among lay focus group participants in Japan, New Zealand, the USA and Sweden. In total, 23 qualitative focus group interviews of 136 participants were conducted. The analyses considered sense-making strategies and heuristics among the focus group participants and identified commonalities and variations in the data, exploring participants' initial and spontaneous reactions to climate engineering and to several recurrent arguments that feature in scientific and public debate (e.g. climate emergency). We found that, despite this study's wide geographical scope, heterogeneous focus group compositions, and the use of different moderators, common themes emerged. Participants made sense of climate engineering in similar ways, for example, through context-dependent analogies and metaphorical Climatic Change (2017)

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“…Nevertheless, one should therefore interpret the present results only as indicative. To pursue responsible innovation of AI, we need to revisit the research agenda, along with stakeholders, as has been done in the context of a different emerging technology [64].…”

Section: Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unintended Side Effects of Digital Transition: Perspectives of Japanese Experts

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The core of the digital transition is the representation of all kinds of real-world entities and processes and an increasing number of cognitive processes by digital information and algorithms on computers. These allow for seemingly unlimited storage, operation, retrieval, and transmission capacities that make digital tools economically available for all domains of society and empower human action, particularly combined with real-world interfaces such as displays, robots, sensors, 3D printers, etc. Digital technologies are general-purpose technologies providing unprecedented potential benefits for sustainability. However, they will bring about a multitude of potential unintended side effects, and this demands a transdisciplinary discussion on unwanted societal changes as well as a shift in science from analog to digital modeling and structure. Although social discourse has begun, the topical scope and regional coverage have been limited. Here, we report on an expert roundtable on digital transition held in February 2017 in Tokyo, Japan. Drawing on a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, our discussions highlight the importance of cultural contexts and the need to bridge local and global conversations. Although Japanese experts did mention side effects, their focus was on how to ensure that AI and robots could coexist with humans. Such a perspective is not well appreciated everywhere outside Japan. Stakeholder dialogues have already begun in Japan, but greater efforts are needed to engage a broader collection of experts in addition to stakeholders to broaden the social debate.

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Transdisciplinary co-design of scientific research agendas: 40 research questions for socially relevant climate engineering research

Cited by 29 publications

References 56 publications

Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table

Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table

Making sense of climate engineering: a focus group study of lay publics in four countries

Unintended Side Effects of Digital Transition: Perspectives of Japanese Experts

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