000			02858cam a2200445Ii 4500
001			897881075
003			OCoLC
005			20190729110221.0
008			140701s2015 enk b 001 0 eng d
015			_aGBB4D6315 _2bnb
016	7		_a016963799 _2Uk
019			_a900446153 _a907088156 _a915513934
020			_a9780198717058 (hbk.)
020			_a0198717059 (hbk.)
035			_a(OCoLC)897881075
040			_aUKMGB _beng _erda _cUKMGB _dOCLCO _dBTCTA _dBDX _dOCLCF _dYDXCP _dAUM _dZCU _dIQU _dOCLCO _dAU@ _dEYM _dIWE
049			_aEEMR
050		4	_aT14.5 _b.A33 2015
050		4	_aT14.5 _b.A33 2015
082	0	4	_a303.483 _223
100	1		_aAgar, Nicholas,
245	1	4	_aThe sceptical optimist : _bwhy technology isn't the answer to everything / _cNicholas Agar.
250			_aFirst Edition.
264		1	_aOxford : _bOxford University Press, _c2015.
300			_ax, 206 pages ; _c23 cm.
336			_atext _2rdacontent.
337			_aunmediated _2rdamedia.
338			_avolume _2rdacarrier.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 196-204) and index.
520			_aThe rapid developments in technologies - especially computing and the advent of many 'smart' devices, as well as rapid and perpetual communication via the Internet - has led to a frequently voiced view which Nicholas Agar describes as 'radical optimism'. Radical optimists claim that accelerating technical progress will soon end poverty, disease, and ignorance, and improve our happiness and well-being. Agar disputes the claim that technological progress will automatically produce great improvements in subjective well-being. He argues that radical optimism 'assigns to technological progress an undeserved pre-eminence among all the goals pursued by our civilization'. Instead, Agar uses the most recent psychological studies about human perceptions of well-being to create a realistic model of the impact technology will have. Although he accepts that technological advance does produce benefits, he insists that these are significantly less than those proposed by the radical optimists, and aspects of such progress can also pose a threat to values such as social justice and our relationship with nature, while problems such as poverty cannot be understood in technological terms. He concludes by arguing that a more realistic assessment of the benefits that technological advance can bring will allow us to better manage its risks in future.
650		0	_aTechnology _xPsychological aspects.
650		0	_aTechnology _xSocial aspects.
650		0	_aTechnology _xPhilosophy.
650		7	_aTechnology _xPhilosophy. _2fast
650		7	_aTechnology _xPsychological aspects. _2fast
650		7	_aTechnology _xSocial aspects. _2fast
596			_a1
948			_au603518
903			_a31922
999			_c31922 _d31922