Fairness and Regulation of Violence in Technological Design

The purpose of this article is to explore how the design of technology relates to the fairness of the distribution of violence in modern society. Deliberately or not, the design of technological artifacts embodies the priorities of its designers, including how violence is meted out to those affected by the design. Designers make implicit predictions about the context in which designs will perform, predictions that will not always be satisfied. Errors from failed predictions can affect people in ways that designers may not appreciate. In this article, several examples of how artifacts distribute violence are considered. The Taylor-Russell diagram is introduced as a means of representing and exploring this issue. The role of government regulation, safety, and social role in design assessment is discussed.