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Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse)
We continuously talk about autonomous technologies. But how can words qualifying technologies be the very same words chosen by Kant to define what is essentially human, i.e. being autonomous? The article focuses on a possible answer by reflecting upon both etymological and philosophical issues, as w...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer London
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7897357/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33642702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01149-5 |
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author | Chiodo, Simona |
author_facet | Chiodo, Simona |
author_sort | Chiodo, Simona |
collection | PubMed |
description | We continuously talk about autonomous technologies. But how can words qualifying technologies be the very same words chosen by Kant to define what is essentially human, i.e. being autonomous? The article focuses on a possible answer by reflecting upon both etymological and philosophical issues, as well as upon the case of autonomous vehicles. Most interestingly, on the one hand, we have the notion of (human) “autonomy”, meaning that there is a “law” that is “self-given”, and, on the other hand, we have the notion of (technological) “automation”, meaning that there is something “offhand” that is “self-given”. Yet, we are experiencing a kind of twofold shift: on the one hand, the shift from defining technologies in terms of automation to defining technologies in terms of autonomy and, on the other hand, the shift from defining humans in terms of autonomy to defining humans in terms of automation. From a philosophical perspective, the shift may mean that we are trying to escape precisely from what autonomy founds, i.e. individual responsibility of humans that, in the Western culture, have been defined for millennia as rational and moral decision-makers, even when their decisions have been the toughest. More precisely, the shift may mean that we are using technologies, and in particular emerging algorithmic technologies, as scapegoats that bear responsibility for us by making decisions for us. Moreover, if we consider the kind of emerging algorithmic technologies that increasingly surround us, starting from autonomous vehicles, then we may argue that we also seem to create a kind of technological divine that, by being always with us through its immanent omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and inscrutability, can always be our technological scapegoat freeing us from the most unbearable burden of individual responsibility resulting from individual autonomy. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7897357 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Springer London |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78973572021-02-22 Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) Chiodo, Simona AI Soc Original Article We continuously talk about autonomous technologies. But how can words qualifying technologies be the very same words chosen by Kant to define what is essentially human, i.e. being autonomous? The article focuses on a possible answer by reflecting upon both etymological and philosophical issues, as well as upon the case of autonomous vehicles. Most interestingly, on the one hand, we have the notion of (human) “autonomy”, meaning that there is a “law” that is “self-given”, and, on the other hand, we have the notion of (technological) “automation”, meaning that there is something “offhand” that is “self-given”. Yet, we are experiencing a kind of twofold shift: on the one hand, the shift from defining technologies in terms of automation to defining technologies in terms of autonomy and, on the other hand, the shift from defining humans in terms of autonomy to defining humans in terms of automation. From a philosophical perspective, the shift may mean that we are trying to escape precisely from what autonomy founds, i.e. individual responsibility of humans that, in the Western culture, have been defined for millennia as rational and moral decision-makers, even when their decisions have been the toughest. More precisely, the shift may mean that we are using technologies, and in particular emerging algorithmic technologies, as scapegoats that bear responsibility for us by making decisions for us. Moreover, if we consider the kind of emerging algorithmic technologies that increasingly surround us, starting from autonomous vehicles, then we may argue that we also seem to create a kind of technological divine that, by being always with us through its immanent omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and inscrutability, can always be our technological scapegoat freeing us from the most unbearable burden of individual responsibility resulting from individual autonomy. Springer London 2021-02-21 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC7897357/ /pubmed/33642702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01149-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Original Article Chiodo, Simona Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
title | Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
title_full | Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
title_fullStr | Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
title_full_unstemmed | Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
title_short | Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
title_sort | human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse) |
topic | Original Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7897357/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33642702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01149-5 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT chiodosimona humanautonomytechnologicalautomationandreverse |