Designing complex technology: Understanding it as of, by and for people (some dilemmas and what to do about them)

The public tends to recognize that the planning of large-scale systems that deliver social/governmental services is done in the context of a disorderly democratic process that embodies value conflicts. At the same time, the public believes that the process of designing the technology of large-scale systems, such as those for air transportation, communication, manufacturing, and power generation, is essentially objective, orderly rational (even scientific), and somehow free from value conflict-in other words, that technological design can be separated from social process. Even worse, many politicians, lawmakers, and systems designers/engineers also believe this because of their training or, one should say, mistraining. Systems engineers often claim to be designing value-neutral technology, letting the politicians, business and market forces, and the user public determine how the technology is used.