kfm27917
9th July 2022, 22:21
In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was popularised in the twentieth century by American sociologist Robert K. Merton and expanded by economist Thomas Sowell and psychologist Stuart Vyse.[1]
Unintended consequences can be grouped into three types:
Unexpected benefit: A positive unexpected benefit (also referred to as luck, serendipity or a windfall).
Unexpected drawback: An unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy (e.g., while irrigation schemes provide people with water for agriculture, they can increase waterborne diseases that have devastating health effects, such as schistosomiasis).
Perverse result: A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse).
There can be little if any doubt that technological innovations (television, computers, cellphones, social media, etc.) have unleashed a bounty of negative, mostly unintended, consequences on society. From contributing to markedly more sedentary lifestyles (and all the health disorders associated with them) mountains of toxic tech waste in landfills and a confusing (but nonetheless pronounced) shift towards relativism. Their advent has changed the world forever, and those changes have had far-reaching repercussions, not all of which are bad. Modern products, apps, and services have also saved lives, created jobs, connected humankind, and fueled entirely new economies, i.e., the internet of things. Whether or not the world is better off because of them depends entirely on who you are talking to. At the very least, the ripple effects of modern technology are a decidedly mixed-bag for humanity that appears to be taking a sinister turn—something The Law of Unintended Consequences could have easily predicted.
"It Is Certain": The Law of Unintended Consequences
Unintended consequences can be grouped into three types:
Unexpected benefit: A positive unexpected benefit (also referred to as luck, serendipity or a windfall).
Unexpected drawback: An unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy (e.g., while irrigation schemes provide people with water for agriculture, they can increase waterborne diseases that have devastating health effects, such as schistosomiasis).
Perverse result: A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse).
There can be little if any doubt that technological innovations (television, computers, cellphones, social media, etc.) have unleashed a bounty of negative, mostly unintended, consequences on society. From contributing to markedly more sedentary lifestyles (and all the health disorders associated with them) mountains of toxic tech waste in landfills and a confusing (but nonetheless pronounced) shift towards relativism. Their advent has changed the world forever, and those changes have had far-reaching repercussions, not all of which are bad. Modern products, apps, and services have also saved lives, created jobs, connected humankind, and fueled entirely new economies, i.e., the internet of things. Whether or not the world is better off because of them depends entirely on who you are talking to. At the very least, the ripple effects of modern technology are a decidedly mixed-bag for humanity that appears to be taking a sinister turn—something The Law of Unintended Consequences could have easily predicted.
"It Is Certain": The Law of Unintended Consequences