10: Technology Assessment and Forecasting

Technology Assessment and Forecasting was a topic pretty alien to me because I have never come across this term before. But today's lesson and the readings provided beforehand served to enlighten me a little on this aspect.

In current times, new technologies are abundant and growing. But before these new technologies surface, it is of utmost important that they undergo a string of assessments to ensure that they qualify the minimum requirements for it to be commercialised in the market. That aside, technological assessments help check the ethical issues involved to minimise any conflicts arising from it. This is simply known as ethical technology assessment (eTA) as presented by Hannah today. By adopting a particular framework in the following sequence,doesn't matter the order,(parliamentary,expert,participatory,constructive,argumentative,health TA) new technologies can be critically studied, evaluated, and presented in its best for acceptance by the general public.

Then, there comes technology forecasting, that deals with characteristics of a future technology without having to state how these characteristics are achieved. It is to predict how the future be like and the human dependency on it. From the past weeks of presentations, we've seen how technology transcended from the past to the present, some of which having future projections as well. The future projection will thus fall under the forecasting part, many of which involves strategic foresight from those in the relevant field. Strategic Foresight is the ability to create and maintain a high-quality, coherent and functional forward view, and to use the insights arising in useful organisational ways.(Slaughter (1999) p287). We could say that back then, many already had this strategic foresight which is why we are where we are today. These people pictured a future and many rode on the wave to work on this ideal and technological future, giving us even more room for bold foresights/ even actual implementation of ideas today. Shown below is something interesting on House of the Future.



It is indeed true that, “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. – African Proverb”. If one is able to extend his sights into the future, dream big and bold, he is likely to embrace the future with optimism and enthusiasm. “My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there – Charles Kettering”, and yes, why not? By actively forecasting/contributing to futurology, we will not be discounting ourselves from the future benefits to be yielded.

I’d rate today’s lesson a 6.75/10 because much as technology assessment & forecasting can be a fresh topic for discussion, the content can be a bit dry and disengaging. But still, good job presenters!