This book provides an in-depth analysis of why and how future technology designers should be trained through both the acquisition of technical skills and the acquisition of critical skills, starting with ethics, if they are to be capable not only of focusing on immediate profit but also, and especially, on the long-term impacts of what they do on individuals and societies. More precisely, it focuses on how it is possible to make a real difference when it comes to some of the most pressing ethical, social, and political challenges of the present time by systematically embedding human and social sciences with a critical focus on science and technology in tech universities—that is, by systematically raising the critical awareness of future technology designers, i.e., engineers, architects, and designers. Based on the experiences and reflections shared by contributors worldwide, this book provides readers with concrete examples and best practices of how to make a real difference by promoting the effective collaboration, from research to teaching to public engagement to policy, between technology designers, on the one hand, and human and social scientists with a critical focus on science and technology, on the other hand.

Simona Chiodo is Full Professor of Philosophy at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. She carried out research visits at Harvard University, was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh and a Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Cambridge and Karnavati University. She was also an Academic Visitor at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich, Chalmers University of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Toronto. She is Deputy Dean of the School of Architecture, Urban Planning and Construction Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and a member of the Technology Foresight at Politecnico di Milano. Her last monographs are “Predicted Humans. Emerging Technologies and the Burden of Sensemaking” (Routledge, 2024) and “Hacking Death. Life-Extension Technologies and the Fate of Western Culture” (Routledge, forthcoming).

Viola Schiaffonati is Full Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of Politecnico di Milano. She is external faculty member of the Diplomatische Akademie in Vienna (Austria) and has been visiting professor at TU Wien, Università di Pisa, and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. She has been senior Digital Humanism Fellow at IWM in Vienna, Ermete Fellow at the University of Stuttgart, visiting scholar at TU Delft, Stanford University and UC Berkeley. Viola Schiaffonati’s research interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of science and technology and computer engineering. Her current research focuses on the epistemological and ethical aspects of AI, ML, robotics and digital technologies; on the investigation on the nature and role of experiments in computer engineering; on the role of simulations in robotics. Viola Schiaffonati serves as co-chair of the steering board of the forum of Philosophy and Engineering (fPET), as the chair of the ethics working group of IDEA League (a network of excellence of European technical universities), and as Associate Editor of the Springer journal Science and Engineering Ethics. In 2021-2022 she has been member of the European Commission Expert group on Artificial Intelligence and Data in Teaching and Learning.

Paolo Volonté is Full Professor of Sociology of Culture at Politecnico di Milano, Department of Design. He is a founder and former President of STS Italia, the Italian association for Science and Technology Studies. He is also a founder and served for ten years as Co-Editor of the International Journal of Fashion Studies, and is a member of the advisory board of Tecnoscienza: Italian Journal of Science and Technology Studies. His research interests lie in cultural sociology and the sociology of knowledge. He is particularly interested in the sociology of scientific knowledge and has conducted as PI a laboratory study on high-energy physics, as well as a study on the social fields of physics and philosophy. His recent publications address the role of experts in the stabilisation of technoscientific knowledge. He is also the author of several articles and books in the field of fashion studies, including Fat Fashion (Bloomsbury, 2021).