Debate through design

Emerging technologies have the potential to affect our minds, bodies, and society on a fundamental level. Many current decisions related to technology development have far-reaching social and ethical implications, yet societal debates on the issue rarely move beyond a discussion of (undifferentiated) utopias and dystopias. This paper presents a methodological approach in which design fiction is used to prompt societal actors to engage in debate about the social and ethical implications of advances in technology, and the creation of socially desirable futures - thus shedding new light on technological development from a societal perspective. Within a theoretical framework that draws on a combination of theories from science and technology studies (STS), design research, participatory technology assessment (pTA) and science communication, and on the basis of practical findings from interdisciplinary research projects, we show how design fiction can be used to effect "debate through design".