Editorial

1Mutual relationships between technology and culture are as old as mankind itself. Technical achievements have influenced culture and cultural patterns and practices have influenced technology and its development, modification, dissemination, and use. Theoretical reflections about this relationship, however, are not so old. Numerous approaches, concepts and reports only recently referred to this relationship between both areas. Meanwhile, this relationship has been subject of reflection in various disciplines. Major questions are:

• How can the relationship between culture and technology be described conceptually?
• To what an extent can the relationship of technology and culture in connection with communication media (book, image, film, radio, TV) be understood as a specific one?
• Which relevance do innovations have in the interdependence of culture and technology and which relevance does this interdependence have to innovations?
• In which way does our culture design “future”, i. e. which technical, social, and cultural circumstances of the presence are considered in an extrapolating manner?
• In which way is culture “objectified” in technology, to what an extent is the handling of technology influenced by cultural aspects, and how do cultural aspects influence technology and design it?

2These few questions illustrate that “technology and culture” is a field of work that can and has to be further developed in a perspective manner. Moreover, the relevance of this field of research is presently growing with globalization, due to technology transfer and intercultural communication. It becomes increasingly obvious, however, that this area can only be studied successfully by a joint effort of humanists, social scientists, cultural scientists, and engineers. Hence, it is required to integrate and structure the existing disciplinary approaches and results.

3The “Karlsruher Studien Technik und Kultur” (Karlsruhe Studies on Technology and Culture) wish to further this development and structurization work.

4The idea of the present third volume of Sustainable Development–Relationships to Culture, Knowledge and Ethics was developed in the course of the international conference “Sustainability 2010: The Cultural Dimension”, which took place in July 2010 in Berlin.

5The emergence of a global and technological world and its accelerating, dissemination before the beginning of the 21^st century does not only give rise to technological, economic, social, environmental, political, and educational tasks. Significant philosophical questions, epistemic reflections, and cultural debates result. In this connection, we, mankind, have special information processing capabilities Aristotle called “theoretical and practical reasoning”. Presently, we are needing discussions about new contexts and contests not least, because our planet is a global and technological network of living information. The aim of this book is to provide information about epistemic, ethical, and cultural implications of contemporary changes and emerging challenges on an interdisciplinary and international level.

6The Editors