TechEthos: Analysis of Ethical Issues

Based on literature studies, original research, expert consultation, and digital ethnographies, this report provides in-depth analysis of ethical issues raised by the three technology families TechEthos is focusing on: Digital eXtended Reality, including the techniques of visually eXtended Reality (XR) and the techniques of Natural Language Processing (NLP); Neurotechnologies; and Climate Engineering, including Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and Solar Radiation Management (SRM).

For each technology family, this report:

• Briefly presents various technologies belonging to the technology family;
• Describes key applications and use cases;
• Identifies core ethical dilemmas and provides conceptual arguments for understanding the nature, history and significance of these dilemmas;
• Identifies ethical values and principles in line with the “ethics by design” methodology and provides a contextualized discussion of the impact of the technology family on each value and principle;
• Outlines arguments for possible mitigation strategies with regard to each value or principle; and
• Provides operational checks and balances with regard to each value or principle, in the form of questions to be asked by designers, policy makers, and users of particular technologies.