Rethink, retool, reboot : technology as if people and planet mattered

Technology Underpins Human Development. We Need It To Provide The Very Basics Of A Minimum Standard Of Life - Food, Water, Shelter, Health And Education. But A Significant Proportion Of The World's Population Do Not Have These Basics Today. And While A Fifth Of The World's Population Lacks Access To Technologies Fundamental To A Basic Standard Of Living, Unfettered Use Of Technology By Those Who Have It Brings Its Own Problems - Including Pollution, Global Warming And Threats To The Sustainable Future Of Humanity. So Why Are We So Slow To Address These Issues? Why Is It That The Drivers Of Innovation Mean We Are More Likely To See Research Into A Cure For Male Baldness Than A Malaria Vaccine Or Into Methods For Extracting Shale Gas As Opposed To Solutions To Store Renewable Energy? We Need To Rethink The Purpose Of Our Technological Endeavor And How We Provide Access To And Govern The Use Of Technology Today. We Need To Retool - To Change The Alignment Of Our Innovation Systems To Deliver Technology That Is Socially Useful And Addresses The Key Challenges Of Poverty And Environmental Sustainability. Above All, Our Relationship With Technology Needs A Reboot. We Need A Different Frame Of Reference - Technology Justice - To Provide A Radically Different Approach To Our Oversight And Governance Of The Development And Use Of Technology. Rethink, Retool, Reboot Addresses Vital Questions Regarding The Future Of Our World And The People Living In It. It Should Be Read By Academics, Students, Activists And All Those Interested In International Development And The Environment. -- Provided By Publisher. Part I. Rethink : Defining Technology And Technological Progress : Defining Technology ; The Idea Of Technological Progress ; The Social Dimensions Of Technology -- Technology Justice: Establishing The Principle : Technology And Environment ; Technology And Human Wellbeing ; A Safe Operating Space For Humanity ; Defining A Principle Of Technology Justice -- Technology Justice And Access To Basic Services : The Light Bulb: Will It Ever Catch On? Access To Energy Services ; The Tap: A Technology Whose Time Has Finally Come? ; Critical Yet Unavailable: Access To Essential Medicines ; Technology Justice And Basic Services -- Technology Justice And Access To Knowledge : Feeding The World: Smallholder Farmers' Need For Better Access To Technical Knowledge ; The Digital Divide ; Technology Justice And The Social Foundation --^ Technology Justice And Use : Justice As Compromise ; Industrialized Agriculture And Biodiversity Loss ; Energy Security And Climate Change ; The Misuse Of Antibiotics: Turning The Clock Back For Medicine ; Technology Justice And Use -- The Governance Of Technology Access And Technology Use: Time For A Rethink : Injustices In Access To And Use Of Technology ; A Single Unified Problem -- Part Ii. Retool: Driving Innovation To Develop The Right Technologies : The Link Between Technological Innovation And Economic Development : Justice As A Fair Space For Innovation ; Understanding How Innovation Happens ; Innovation Systems And Developing Economies -- Technology Justice And Innovation Systems In Practice : Justice And The Management Of Risk In Innovation ; Justice And The Shaping Of The Purpose Of Innovation ; Driving Sustainable Pro-poor Innovation: The Need For Change --^ Intellectual Property Rights: Part Of The Solution Or Part Of The Problem? : Why Patent? ; Do Patents Encourage Innovation? ; Trips, Patents, And The Negative Impacts On Developing Countries ; Asymmetries Of Power ; Alternatives To The Existing Patent System ; Where Next? -- Recognizing The Role Of The State In Effective Innovation Systems : Venture Capital And The Valley Of Death In The Energy Sector ; Recognizing Reality : Governments Engage In Entrepreneurial Activity ; Changing The Narrative: Rebalancing Expectations Of Public And Private-sector Roles -- Beyond Market Forces: Other Drivers For Innovation : Innovation For What? ; Innovation For Whom? ; Innovation By Whom? -- Making Technology Innovation Work For People And Planet: The Need To Retool --^ Part Iii. Reboot: Building A Different Approach To The Governance Of Technology : Reimagining Technology As If People And The Planet Mattered : The Need To Reboot Our Relationship With Technology ; Rebooting Access ; Rebooting Use ; Rebooting Innovation ; Changing The Way Technology Is Governed ; Technology As If People And Planet Mattered -- Epilogue : Is Small Beautiful? -- Appendices : 1. Failures To Adhere To The Precautionary Principle -- 2. List Of Diseases Defined As Neglected' In G-finder 2011 -- 3. Estimating The Costs Of True Energy Access. Simon Trace. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.