Opinion

What is safe for whom? Negotiating new technologies under conditions of uncertainty

Published on 16 September 2024

Ian Scoones

Professorial Fellow

In the regulation of new technologies, the questions of what is safe for whom are always thrown up. This is the third blog in a short series discussing the new book – Navigating Uncertainty: Radical Rethinking for a Turbulent World. The third chapter looks at a range of technologies – AI, driverless cars, energy systems and so on, but focuses especially on the debate about GM crops in the late 90s/early 2000s, something I worked on at the time.

In particular, the chapter explores how attempts to close down risk through a so-called ‘science-based’ approach acted to exclude a whole array of public concerns, more centred on uncertainties (about impacts on health, biodiversity, as well as wider questions of ownership and control in the food system).

This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.

Read the full story on the Zimbabweland website

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The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IDS.

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