Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies

This review essay critically engages with Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies: An Introduction (Ibo van de Poel et al., 2023), a volume that explores how emerging technologies generate not only practical and social upheavals but also conceptual disruptions that destabilize categories such as democracy, responsibility, personhood, and nature. By advancing a framework of conceptual gaps, overlaps, and misalignments, the book highlights how technological change compels conceptual engineering and technomoral reflection. While its strengths lie in methodological clarity, intercultural ambition, and theoretical provocation, its limitations include Eurocentric scope and uneven empirical grounding. Overall, the volume is a significant contribution that redefines the ethics of technology and offers vital implications for future research, pedagogy, and anticipatory policy design.