Social Experiment as a Means of Public Participation: An initiative to face ignorance

Abstract

Introduction of new technology to our society involves risks and uncertainties. They may go unnoticed at the first instance, but would be revealed if an incident or accident concerning the technology brings about irreparable and undesirable change(s) to the society. To prevent this, deliberative initiatives involving various stakeholders, especially citizens, are critical. A social experiment, which is a trial to introduce new technology into a limited section of the society and obtain feedbacks from the stakeholders involved, is one such initiative. To obtain invaluable knowledge about the technology while protecting the society from its negative consequence(s), however, serious thoughts should be given when the experiment is conducted. In this paper, we discuss some such issues to be considered as ELSI of a social experiment. To make use of a social experiment as an effective means of public participation, it needs be designed and practiced to overcome one's structurally imposed ignorance.