The globalization of social risks and technological accidents

Social and technological risks can be understood as a kind of antechamber to the occurrence of accidents or other unwanted events. The debate about the multiple forms and treatments of risk seems to have become crucial nowadays, although the risk has always been present throughout the history of Mankind. We do not know, however, if the world is now more risky than in the past, but we know, for example, that Western citizens have increased their average life expectancy, infant mortality has dropped dramatically and we are now healthier than in the past, due for instance to technological development. Despite all the benefits it provides, technology also simultaneously generates new serious and terrifying risks. For example, our ancestors did not have to live with nuclear power plants, air transport (aviation), oil platforms, genetic engineering, and so on. This paper discusses the ambivalence of technology from the notion of risk, including its positive and negative aspects.