RI Columns Chapter 5

If you’ve seen the movie Batman: The Dark Knight you probably remember the scene where there were two boats filled with explosives (if you haven’t seen it watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4GAQtGtd_0 ). One of the boats had all the cities criminals aboard and the other the regular citizens. Both boats had a remote to destroy the other one. If one of the boats was not destroyed before…

Technology Assessment from a TPM student point of view First in order to reduce ambiguities, Technology, Policy and Management is a particular broad study. It could be compared with a Swiss Army knife, you study a broad technical side but also learn what governance and judicial aspects come with the problem or opportunity. With the study you get involved with many different multi-actor and…

During a debate for who is going to represent the Democratic Party in the upcoming elections for United States President, the host asked the contesters a question. “What do you think is the greatest national treat to the United States?” The candidates answered with threats like: The spread of nuclear weapons and the risk of them falling into the wrong hands, cyber warfare, China, the unstable…

S omething really popular and diffusing at the moment is 3D printing. The first patents for 3D printing were requested in the 80’s (De wereld van 3d-printen, 2015) . Consumers could buy the product since 1988. By then, those  printers were not that popular because they were much more expensive than now. A lot of people didn’t know about these printers, but this changed last years. The development…

Since I am Japanese I want to let more people know about how exactly Fukushima disaster happened. Let me first talk about Japanese geography. Surprisingly Japan is made of many complex plates underneath. Earthquake happens when those plates rub each other due to volcano activity or break naturally. Do not forget that Earth is also a living organism just like us. There are also similar plates in…

Ever since I first encountered the term “Responsible Innovation”, about 7 weeks ago now, there has been one thought that popped into my head particularly often: “What a tiresome business this is sometimes.” To really be a Responsible Innovator, you have to take into account so many things. So many what ifs, dilemmas (morally overloaded or not), value conflicts, problems of many hands, risks

Understanding risks seems like an easy tasks. When we speak of risk we think about the likelihood of being harmed or better said the possibility of losing something of value. Thousands of experts are paid to study and report on how risky chemicals, treatments, drugs 
or threats really are. So, you might expect that effective risk communication is just a matter of explaining what they know in a…

We’ve all heard it at some point in our live: Be careful. Now when considering this, it is a very weird suggestion. Most of you probably were not going to get themselves intentionally run over by a car before hearing these two words:  Be careful. ,,Predicting the future is hard.’’ Niels Bohr. In technology and innovation it makes sense.  When innovating in a responsible way it is important to…

Risks involving 3D-printing In my previous column I talked about bringing 3D-printing available to everyone. This would enable the individual back into the mass market by allowing for the customisation of products. In my opinion this is something that is lacking in today’s industry. However with the rise of 3D-printing, a relatively new product for the “average Joe”, comes new risks.   With every…

The amount of risk measures the likelihood of an unwanted or negative outcome of a certain situation or event to happen. What are the odds that I get hit by a car when I cross the street? What are the odds that I will fail a certain exam? There is a difference between low and high risks. An example of low risk is the chance of been hit by lightning. High risk or higher risk events could be the…