如何对待技术不确定性——超越和重塑预禁原则与先行原则

How to Deal with Technological Uncertainty:Beyond both the Precautionary Principle and the Proactionary Principle

如何对待技术不确定性已成为当下技术发展与治理战略中亟待解决的问题。技术不确定性主要体现在技术后果的不确定性上,而技术后果的不确定性是由技术目的存在内部矛盾、技术可能产生非意图后果两个方面的因素造成的。目前存在对待技术不确定性的左右两个极端态度,即预禁原则和先行原则。二者的倡导者都意图使自己的原则普遍化,最终导致各自的理论与实践困境,因此有必要重新限定二者的适用范围。同时,技术不确定性不是一禁一放可以解决的,在二者的适用范围之外存在原则真空,需要引入第三条原则——慎行原则,处理介乎左右两个极端之间的技术不确定性。

How to deal with technological uncertainty has become an urgent problem that needs to be addressed in the current development and governance of technology.Technological uncertainty is primarily manifested in the uncertainty of technological consequences,which arises from the internal contradiction of technology'purposes and the unintended consequences it brings.Currently,there are two extreme atitudes worldwide regarding technological uncertainty-the left and the right-namely the precautionary principle based on uncertainty and the proactionary principle based on certainty.Both of these principles encounter certain difficulties in theory and practice.The intention of the advocates of the two principles to go beyond the scope of their own application that has led to their theoretical and practical dilemmas.We aim to reshape the scope of these two principle's application.Beyond these two principles,we try to introduce the third principle,principle of caution and action,to address technological uncertainty which is between the left and the right sides.