Abstract
The word innovation could mean everything new capable of solving in an easier and better way any problem we find in our lives. Any innovation has always created risks, but specifically, now, the innovation related to the information technology poses major problems because of the pervasiveness everywhere, anytime. It can happen that we are not any more capable of doing very basic things without the help of a computer, and unfortunately, too many persons feel strongly that we can solve the crisis we are living now just by innovating. This chapter explores the bio-ethics of innovation.
TopIntroduction
In the opinion of the author it would be necessary that the word innovation means every new thing coming from Man and capable to introduce not only something new but create benefits for humanity. What is described in this chapter specifically is the experience over forty years of the author in a large number of application/solution in the Information Computation Technology (ICT) area, in many different industries, following the evolution of technology in ICT.
It is very important to start this chapter by remembering one of the best descriptions of a computer. Umberto Eco,1 the Italian novelist very well known internationally for the novel Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose). asserts (Pozzoli, 1986): “Il computer non è una macchina intelligente che aiuta le persone stupide, anzi è una macchina stupida che funziona solo nelle mani delle persone intelligenti [The computer is not a clever machine that helps stupid persons, on the contrary it is a stupid machine that works only in the hands of clever persons].”
Figure 1.
Umberto Eco, the Italian author of the romance “Il nome della rosa”
In a few words, it is naive to believe that innovation is just to use everything new that comes from computers and, in general, from ICT, to get results to better the human life. We have and we must keep the control on what we can do through information technology. The Man creates applications, solutions and tools using computers to solve problems. The Man must also be able to design, develop and monitor solutions to avoid the connected risks, at the maximum level. The Man has the idea; ICT is just the set of tools that realize it.
TopPersonal And Portable Computers
The advent of the Personal Computer, in the middle eighties, started a revolution that was not only technological but it was a new way to work, with a completely new organization.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Bioethics: Is a philosophical discipline pertaining to notions of good and bad, right and wrong, our moral life in community. Bioethics is the application of ethics to the field of medicine and healthcare.
AICA: Associazione italiana per l'informatica ed il calcolo automatico.
ACM: Association for Computing Machinery.