Human Development

In this world, there are many people that live in poverty, while at the same time scientists and engineers create new technologies that solve problems that were too big to solve only decades ago. It would seem that if we did our best effort, a technological fix for poverty would be at our doorstep. Yet at the same time, could it not also be true that some new technology only increase poverty? The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relation between technologies and poverty, from the point of view of justice. The justice approach that I choose in this thesis is the Capability Approach, an approach that looks at what a person can truly do and be (his or her capabilities), instead of what he or she has or achieves. More specifically, the Capability Approach of Martha Nussbaum is used as a more concrete interpretation of the more general approach that Sen introduced. Based on this version of the Capability Approach, poverty is then defined as violation of the minimal right to vital security, or the hindrance of attaining social goods. A person’s (lack of) capabilities can be influenced by technologies either by directly introducing or prohibiting capabilities, or by influencing our perceived choices between capabilities, or by doing either one indirectly. Because of this, the introduction of a (new) technology in a society should include an assessment of how the technology influences capabilities. In this assessment, interplay between technology experts and local actors can provide valuable insights that can be beneficial for citizens, governments, and corporations.