AUC IURIDICA
AUC IURIDICA

Acta Universitatis Carolinae Iuridica (AUC Iuridica) is a legal journal published since 1955, which presents longer essays as well as short articles on topics relevant for legal theory and international, European and Czech law. It also publishes works concerning current legislative problems.

Although intended primarily for domestic audience, AUC Iuridica is useful also for foreign experts, who can take advantage of summaries in foreign languages (English, German and French) and key words, which are systematically added to the main articles and essays.

The published articles are subject to peer reviews. If necessary, reviewed texts are sent back to the author for revision.

AUC Iuridica accepts contributions from any contributor on any current legal topic.

The journal is registered in the Czech National Bibliography (kept by the National Library of the Czech Republic) and in the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (kept by the American Association of Law Libraries).

The journal is archived in Portico.

–––

We are pleased to inform you that the journal Acta Universitatis Carolinae Iuridica was the first journal of the Faculty of Law of Charles University to be included in the prestigious international database SCOPUS. This Elsevier database is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature in the world. The editors of the journal expect from the inclusion in the elite SCOPUS database not only an increase in the readership of the journal, but also an increase in interest in the publication of papers by both Czech and foreign authors.

AUC IURIDICA, Vol 69 No 1 (2023), 29–44

Právní a kulturní aspekty příčin a dopadů teze o technologické stagnaci

[Legal and Cultural Aspects of Causes and Consequences of the Technological Stagnation Thesis]

Jan Hořeňovský

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23366478.2023.3
published online: 09. 03. 2023

abstract

The dominant narrative that prevails in Western society today is that we live in a time of unprecedented technological progress that is historically unparalleled. We have social media networks, smartphones, the internet, and we are moving towards advanced artificial intelligence. However, little is said or written about the fact that this is also a narrative successfully challenged by several prominent, mainly American, authors. Those point out that progress over the last 50 years or so has been limited mainly to information technology, while in other areas, such as energy, transport, and construction, we are experiencing stagnation, resulting in the decline of the middle class and worsening life prospects, particularly for young people. This article is based on these critical perspectives and has two objectives. The first is to introduce a reader to the technological stagnation thesis. The second is to analyse the causes of this phenomenon and what role law and regulation might play in it. The ambition of this article is not to solve this problem entirely but rather to bring it to the attention of the academic community. If future discussions will be more about the impact of our actions on the issue of innovation, I would consider the objective of this article to be met. At the same time, I believe that this article may open the door to further research in the field of law, including potential empirical analysis.

keywords: technological stagnation; innovation; intellectual property law; artificial intelligence; risk

references (53)

1. Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v. von Eschenbach, 495 F.3d 695 (D.C. Cir. 2007), cert denied, 552 U.S. 1159 (2008).

2. BAXTER, H. Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Autopoietic Legal Systems. Annual Review of Law and Social Science. 2013, Vol. 9, s. 167-184. CrossRef

3. BENZ, E. Lessons from Fukushima: Strengthening the International Regulation of Nuclear Energy. William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review. 2012-2013, Vol. 37, No. 3, Art. 8, s. 845-883.

4. BETZ, U. Is the force awakening? Technological Forecasting & Social Change. 2018, Vol. 128, s. 296-303. CrossRef

5. BRAZIER, M. - CAVE, E. Medicine, Patients and the Law. London: Penguin Books, 2011.

6. BRYNJOLFSSON, E. - MCAFEE, A. The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.

7. CALLAWAY, E. EU law deals blow to CRISPR crops. In: Nature [online]. 25. 7. 2018 [cit. 2022-01-29] Dostupné na: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05814-6.

8. COWEN, T. The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better. New York: Penguin, 2010.

9. DE BEER, J. Intellectual Property and 'Open' Innovation: A Synthesis of Concepts. In: CALBOLI, I. - MONTAGNANI, M. R. Handbook of Intellectual Property Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021, s. 714-745. CrossRef

10. EPSTEIN, R. Can Technological Innovation Survive Government Regulation? Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 2013, Vol. 36, No. 1, s. 87-104.

11. EPSTEIN, R. The Erosion of Individual Autonomy in Medical Decisionmaking: of the FDA and IRBs. Georgetown Law Journal. 2007, Vol. 96, s. 559-582.

12. FINDLAY, T. Nuclear Energy and Global Governance: Ensuring Safety, Security and Non-proliferation. London: Routledge, 2010. CrossRef

13. GALVIN, D. J. - HACKER, J. The Political Effects of Policy Drift: Policy Stalemate and American Political Development. Studies in American Political Development. 2020, Vol. 34, No. 2, s. 216-238. CrossRef

14. GATES, B. How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021.

15. GHALME, G. - NAIR, V. J. - EILAT, I. a kol. Strategic Classification in the Dark. arXiv. 2021, Vol. 2102.11592v3, s. 1-24.

16. GLASSER, E. - SHLEIFER, A. The Rise of the Regulatory State. J. Econ Literature. 2003, Vol. 41, No. 2, s. 401-425. CrossRef

17. GOODWIN, M. - HEATH, O. The 2016 Referendum, Brexit and the Left Behind: an Aggregate-level Analysis of the Result. The Political Quarterly. 2016, Vol. 87, No. 3, s. 323-332. CrossRef

18. GORDON, R. The Rise and Fall of American Growth: the U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War. New Jersey: Princetown University Press, 2016. CrossRef

19. GOULD, M. - JOSHI, I. - TANG, M. The power of data in a pandemic. In: GOV. UK. Blog. Technology in the NHS [online]. 28. 3. 2020. [cit. 2022-10-22]. Dostupné na: https://healthtech.blog.gov.uk/2020/03/28/the-power-of-data-in-a-pandemic/.

20. GREF, L. The Rise and Fall of American Technology. New York: Algora Publishing, 2010.

21. GRUSZCZYNSKI, L. Regulating Health and Environmental Risks under WTO Law: a Critical Analysis of the SPS Agreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. CrossRef

22. HARARI, Y. N. HARARI, Y. N. Homo Deus: a Brief History of Tomorrow. London: Vintage, 2017. CrossRef

23. HOLLÄNDER, P. Právník v bludišti postmoderní dekonstrukce a Savignyho Ariadnina nit. In: GERLOCH, A. - KRZYŽANKOVÁ, K, Ž. (eds.). Právo v měnícím se světě. Plzeň: Vydavatelství a nakladatelství Aleš Čeněk, 2020.

24. IZZO, M. Management Transition to Big Data Analytics: Exploratory Study on Airline Industry. International Business Research. 2019, Vol. 12, No. 10, s. 48-56. CrossRef

25. JAFFE, G. Regulatory slowdown on GM crop decisions. Nat Biotechnol. 2006, Vol. 24, s. 748-749. CrossRef

26. KESSLER, A. How We Got Here: A Slightly Irreverent History of Technology and Markets. New York: Harper Business, 2005.

27. KONDRATIEFF, N. The Long Waves in Economic Life. Martino Fine Books, 2014.

28. KURZWEIL, R. The Singularity Is Near. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. CrossRef

29. LEHMAN-WILZIG, S. Frankenstein unbound: towards a legal definition of artificial intelligence. Futures. 1981, Vol. 13, No. 6, s. 442-457. CrossRef

30. LEONHARDT, D. For many, a boom that wasn't. The New York Times [online]. 9. 4. 2008 [cit. 2022-30-1]. Dostupné na: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/business/09leonhardt.html.

31. LUHMANN, N. Law as a Social System. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

32. MAAS, M. Paths Untaken: the History, Epistemology and Strategy of Technological Restraint, and lessons for AI. In: VerfBlog [online]. 9. 8. 2022 [cit. 2022-10-22]. Dostupné na: https://verfassungsblog.de/paths-untaken/.

33. PETIT, N. - DE COOMAN, J. Models of Law and Regulation for AI. Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research. 2020, paper No. RSCAS 2020/63. EUI Department of Law Research. CrossRef

34. PETIT, N. Law and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence and Robots - Conceptual Framework and Normative Implications. In: SSRN [online]. 2017 [cit. 2022-10-22]. Dostupné na: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2931339. CrossRef

35. PHELPS, E. Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change. Princeton University Press, 2016.

36. PIKETTY, T. Kapitál v 21. století. Praha: Knižní klub, 2015.

37. PINKER, S. Enlightenment Now. [London]: Allen Lane, 2018.

38. RENU, N. Technological advancement in the era of COVID-19. SAGE Open Medicine. 2021, Vol. 9, s. 1-4. CrossRef

39. Report of 27th January 2017 with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law rules on robotics, (2015/2103(INL)).

40. ROSLING, H. - ROSLING, O. - ROSLING RÖNNLUND, A. Faktomluva: deset důvodů, proč se mýlíme v pohledu na svět - a proč jsou věci lepší, než vypadají. Brno: Jan Melvil Publishing, 2018.

41. SCHUCK, P. H. Legal Complexity: Some Causes, Consequences, and Cures. Duke Law Journal. 1992, Vol. 42, No. 1, s. 1-52. CrossRef

42. SOLON, O. Peter Thiel: Europe is cracking down on Silicon Valley out of 'jealousy'. The Guardian [online]. 15. 3. 2018 [cit. 2022-10-22]. Dostupné na: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/15/peter-thiel-silicon-valley-europe-regulation/.

43. STEWARD, D. - WHITNEY, S. - KURZROCK, R. Equipoise lost: ethics, costs, and the regulation of cancer clinical research. Journal of clinical oncology: official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 2010, Vol. 28, No. 17, s. 2925-2935. CrossRef

44. SUMPTION, J. Trials of the State. London: Profile Books, 2020.

45. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Carolina Center for food safety et al. v. Thomas J. Vilsack et al. ze dne 13. 10. 2010, No. C 08-00484 JSW.

46. THIEL, P. - MASTERS, B. Od nuly k jedničce. Úvahy o startupech aneb jak tvořit budoucnost. Brno: Jan Melvil Publishing, 2015.

47. THIEL, P. - MASTERS, B. Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future. London: Ebury Publishing, 2014.

48. THIEL, P. The End of the Future. In: National Review [online]. 3. 11. 2011 [cit. 2022-01-29]. Dostupné na: https://www.nationalreview.com/2011/10/end-future-peter-thiel/.

49. VIJG, J. The American Technological Challenge: Stagnation and Decline in the 21st Century. New York: Algora Publishing, 2011.

50. VIJG, J. The Great Technology Slowdown: Looking for the Silver Lining [přednáška]. Praha: Institute H21, 18. 9. 2021. Online dostupné na: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqsCNs8trTc.

51. WEIMER, M. - MARIN, L. The Role of Law in Managing the Tension between Risk and Innovation. EJRR: Special Issue on Regulating New and Emerging Technologies. 2016, Vol. 3, No. 1, s. 1-6. CrossRef

52. WEINSTEIN, B. The Fourth Frontier: Discovering humanity's future [přednáška]. Vídeň: Hannah Arendt Center, 1. 11. 2017.

53. WILDAVSKY, A. Searching for Safety. New Brunswick: Transaction, 1988.

Creative Commons License
Právní a kulturní aspekty příčin a dopadů teze o technologické stagnaci is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

230 x 157 mm
periodicity: 4 x per year
print price: 65 czk
ISSN: 0323-0619
E-ISSN: 2336-6478

Download