New Technologies: What are the Opportunities and Challenges?

Abstract

The United Nations Secretary General’s Strategy on New Technologies emphasises the huge potential of new technologies “to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and to facilitate their alignment with the values enshrined in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the norms and standards of International Law” (United Nations, 2018, p. 3). But while new technologies can “offer us powerful new ways to achieve our shared commitments to each and every one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)…. they are not risk-free, and some inspire anxiety and even fear. They can be used to malicious ends or have unintended negative consequences” (United Nations, 2018, p. 8). This issue of JL4D focusses on the benefits and challenges of new technologies, in the context of SDGs, and in particular SDG4, the provision of quality education for all (see https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/).