Making Use of Foresight to Capture the Co-Evolution of Security Technologies and Societal Development

The following contribution focuses on the question of how emerging security technologies might influence the way people live in the future. Rapidly evolving security technologies come with new opportunities for the security sector on the one hand, but on the other lead to new threats related to privacy and a potential lack of democratic control. Using a foresight approach based on the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries, this paper offers a new approach to consider emerging technologies in the field of public security and reflect their potential impacts on society in Germany. By using storytelling in scenarios, a methodological approach is offered to capture potential future developments and make them accessible in a broader negotiation process about the pros and cons of implementing new security technologies. Referring to the concept of “security culture”, means ideas, norms, and practices of individuals and organizations about why and how security technologies will be implemented in understandable and comprehensible pictures of public security in Germany in the next ten to fifteen years. Those possible scenarios were developed based on data from qualitative content analyses of tech publications and policy papers that focus on emerging security technologies. With this foresight approach, it is possible to provide insight into the impact of security technology and initiate a reflection on current trends.