Technology, discontent, and law's governance
Roger Brownsword · 2023
This chapter presents an overview of the central question raised in the second Part of the book. Moving from a low-tech context to a high-tech context, how does this impact on discontent with law&s;s imperfect governance? Relative to discontent with law, do high-level and high-speed technologies make things better or worse? Foreshadowing the discussion in the five chapters that follow, and in which it is the provocation of discontent that is highlighted, the challenges presented by new technologies in relation to the authority, effectiveness, and legitimacy of law are flagged up. While some of these aggravations of discontent were evident in the early applications of modern biotechnologies and ICTs, others will be provoked by technologies such as AI and machine learning that are currently in the spotlight.