TATuP Vol. 33 No. 2 (2024) has recently been published!

How can technology assessment help to prevent the misuse of technology to promote radicalization and terrorist violence? The current TATuP Special topic aims to bring questions of civil security into the focus of technology assessment (TA).

Raising awareness of the risks and unintended consequences of technology has always been a central concern of TA. However, TA has rarely addressed the question of how technology could be used specifically to undermine civil security or promote radicalization and terrorist violence. The guest editors of the new Special topic “Malicious Creativity and Civil Security: The Ambivalence of New Technologies” aim to fill this gap.

Together with the authors, the editors of the Special topic examine new and emerging technologies at the interface between civil security and malicious use - such as AI innovations or autonomous systems. They discuss the possibilities and limitations of assessing and preventing the malicious use of these technologies.

Interview: Democracy in immersive digital worlds

The TATuP interview focuses on the question of how we can shape the virtual reality-based internet of the future. Matthias Quent, one of the best-known researchers into right-wing extremism, talks about the activities of his project “Immersive Democracy”, which is concerned with safeguarding democratic practices in the coming internet. Also in the current issue: a research article (in German!) on a self-reflective analysis of the role of research on ethical, legal and social implications in projects on technology solutions for care, conference reports, book reviews and news from the TA community.