What constitutes an ethical technology?

As many of you know, I post a lot about the importance of using ethical technologies. But how does one decide what constitutes an ethical technology?

For me, it’s as simple as asking myself four simple questions first posed by the great economist and humanist E.F. Schumacher, who wrote one of the most important books I have read - Small is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered.

They are:

1.) What is the [technology’s] relevance to poverty?

2.) What is the [technology’s] relevance to the mental and spiritual health of humanity?

3.) What is the [technology’s] impact on living nature all around us?

4.). What is the [technology’s] relevance to energy?

I truly believe that it really can be that simple.