Cumulative effects and unforeseeable consequences

“The Imperative of Responsibility” by Hans Jonas is a much-noticed and central work and, as the subtitle of the book of the same name says, "A Search for an Ethics for the Technological Age" Basically, with his prospective concern for humanity, he states a rather gloomy future, at least a very endangered future, for which we are all responsible with our actions.

Nevertheless, the approach is not free from criticism. The subject (Who? All of us) of responsibility remains vague. As we have already seen in connection with collective responsibility, the distribution of responsibility to "all" is a difficult endeavour. In the end, after some criticism, Jonas' approach remains - at least in practical terms - an "appeal without an addressee". But it is a sharp and justified appeal, an appeal that clearly shakes up our sense of responsibility.

Up to this point, despite all criticism, we can maintain that, firstly, our responsibility is not limited to the past and present. But it also extends far into the future, where the effects of our actions reach. And secondly, we can state that our responsibility extends far beyond the immediate sphere of our actions. It extends into global dimensions where the consequences of our decisions and actions take effect.

Thirdly, the distant and future consequences of our actions can no longer be attributed to individual persons. Rather they are the result of the uncoordinated actions of countless people. We are dealing with cumulative effects. With regard to the extraction of raw materials for instance the consequences affects future and global climate, e.g. through CO2-emissions in our atmosphere that may lead to global warming in future and the rise of temperature in particular regions.

The question that arises for modern ethics is how to deal with cumulative effects. This refers to synergies in the effects that result from the actions of many people without being able to attribute these cumulative consequences to individual causal agents.

Example

Climate change is a good example of this. The constant warming of the earth is the result of the actions of people as a whole. Each and every individual is involved. Even if a single person behaves in a way that is more or less climate-friendly or climate-damaging, this individual behaviour is irrelevant for the global development of the climate. It is only when the individual behaviours of all people come together that the cumulative effects on the climate occur. These effects are relevant both beyond the respective region and in the future. Sometimes it seems that it is only through the cumulative interaction of otherwise subliminal impacts that significant damage occurs on a global scale. Cf. in detail on cumulative effects.

Fourthly, the sometimes very complex side effects of actions must also be addressed in connection with a modern understanding of responsibility. Large-scale technological projects in particular, especially if they are to result from the collaboration of many participants, can have both foreseeable and unforeseeable side effects. It is almost impossible to identify a single person or group who is ultimately responsible for unforeseeable side effects.

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Example

Another example is the development of the corona vaccines and finally the national and international roll-out of the vaccination. A large number of people in different parts of the world worked flat out to develop effective vaccines. It is a collaborative endeavour under the pressure of the rampant pandemic with the aim of: protecting people, getting the spread of the virus under control and ultimately restoring a "normal" social life. As such, vaccine development is not just a matter for research laboratories, but for politics, business, medicine, etc., and hence for society as a whole. (Almost) everyone wants a vaccine, and they want it quickly and effectively - which is also in their personal interest.

But who is responsible for this? On the one hand for production and distribution, but also for unforeseeable side effects? The industry, the politicians, the consumers, all of us? Anyone who has followed the current developments and those of the recent past will probably remember the disputes and negotiations concerning precisely these issues. With the very specific headline: "Corona vaccination: who pays for possible damage?" and the teaser that immediately followed: "The pharmaceutical industry does not want to accept any liability for possible undesirable health consequences of the corona vaccination. European taxpayers should pay." is how the Berliner Zeitung sums it up. Even if, in the end, we are all jointly liable for de facto damage, the complex question of fundamental responsibility for what has happened is far from being resolved. This will probably require a lengthy follow-up political and social discourse in Germany, Europe and beyond.

Assuming that European taxpayers are held liable and have to pay, this would mean that they are all (legally) responsible - even if they are represented by state institutions.

Monetary damages can still be distributed and compensated for via taxes if necessary. Thus it is possible to construct a liability responsibility. However, this procedure does not work in the case of fundamental responsibility. It would be absurd to say that with around 450 million EU citizens, every single one of them is responsible for a mere four hundred and fifty millionth of the unforeseeable side effects of the coronavirus vaccination. This would be cynical. It would not do justice to the human suffering that would have been caused by the unforeseeable damage.

With regard to unforeseeable side effects of collective actions and the unforeseeable cumulative effects that may be associated with them, it is clear - as illustrated by the example of the coronavirus vaccination - that humanity can bring about events that it can no longer foresee itself. The events are enabled through the world's technological and increasingly digital possibilities. In this respect, our collective power of action in certain areas seems to have outgrown our possible foresight. This applies in technological terms, as well as in spatial and temporal terms. This creates a paradox for responsibility. For what we cannot know, we cannot (morally) take responsibility for. However, if responsibility can no longer be attributed to individual persons, then responsibility would either have lost itself into the void. Or one would have to ascribe responsibility to the entire system.