Book Description
This report summarizes the issues that arose and the discussions held during the meetings of a 1998-1999 study group focusing on global governance of information technology and biotechnology. The goal was to bring a policy perspective LONG RANGE(DISTANCE), XTto bear on a discussion of new technological developments through a series of free-flowing and exploratory presentations and discussions. An important part of this effort involved bringing together experts from many different fields-journalists, policymakers, scientists, academics, business people-to discuss developments that will affect all of society. By bringing together such a variety of people, the organizers hoped to see whether people from different professions react differently to emerging technological developments. Each study group meeting featured a presentation by a different invited discussion leader, which either explored some aspect of information technology or biotechnology development or examined the capability of human nature or political structure to deal with new technology, followed by a discussion. This report presents the findings that emerged from these meetings. It addresses a number of issues, with an emphasis on possible U.S. responses on a political or social level to critical technology governance issues. The body of the report summarizes the issues that emerged from the discussion. The appendixes distill the content of the various presentations and discussions.