Editor | Adam Keiper |
---|---|
Frequency | Quarterly |
Publisher | The Center for the Study of Technology and Society, The Ethics and Public Policy Center |
Year founded | 2003 |
Based in | Washington, D.C. |
Language | English |
Website | www |
ISSN |
1543-1215 (print) 1555-5569 (web) |
OCLC number | 56518547 |
The New Atlantis, founded in 2003, is a quarterly journal about the social, ethical, political, and policy dimensions of modern science and technology. The journal is published in Washington, D.C. by the social conservative advocacy group the Ethics and Public Policy Center in partnership with the Center for the Study of Technology and Society. It is edited by Adam Keiper, who took over in 2007 from founding editor Eric Cohen.
The journal’s name is taken from Francis Bacon’s utopian novella New Atlantis, which the journal’s editors describe as a "fable of a society living with the benefits and challenges of advanced science and technology." An editorial in the inaugural issue states that the aim of the journal is "to help us avoid the extremes of euphoria and despair that new technologies too often arouse; and to help us judge when mobilizing our technological prowess is sensible or necessary, and when the preservation of things that count requires limiting the kinds of technological power that would lessen, cheapen, or ultimately destroy us." Writing for National Review, editor Adam Keiper described The New Atlantis as being written from a "particularly American and conservative way of thinking about both the blessings and the burdens of modern science and technology."New Atlantis authors and bioethicists publishing in other journals have also similarly referred to The New Atlantis as being written from a social conservative stance which utilizes religion.
The New Atlantis tends to publish views in favor of technological innovation but wary of certain avenues of development. For example, the journal has generally advocated nuclear energy; space exploration and development through public-private partnerships, including manned missions to Mars; biofuels; and genetically modified foods. But it has expressed ambivalent or critical views about developments in synthetic biology and military technologies like drones,chemical weapons, and cyberwarfare. Articles often explore policy questions on these and other issues, sometimes advocating particular policy outcomes, especially on health care, environmental management, and energy.