•  2766
    Democratizing Algorithmic Fairness
    Philosophy and Technology 33 (2): 225-244. 2020.
    Algorithms can now identify patterns and correlations in the (big) datasets, and predict outcomes based on those identified patterns and correlations with the use of machine learning techniques and big data, decisions can then be made by algorithms themselves in accordance with the predicted outcomes. Yet, algorithms can inherit questionable values from the datasets and acquire biases in the course of (machine) learning, and automated algorithmic decision-making makes it more difficult for peopl…Read more
  •  997
    Why Confucianism Matters in Ethics of Technology
    In Shannon Vallor (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology, Oxford University Press, Usa. 2020.
    There are a number of recent attempts to introduce Confucian values to the ethical analysis of technology. These works, however, have not attended sufficiently to one central aspect of Confucianism, namely Ritual (‘Li’). Li is central to Confucian ethics, and it has been suggested that the emphasis on Li in Confucian ethics is what distinguishes it from other ethical traditions. Any discussion of Confucian ethics for technology, therefore, remains incomplete without accounting for Li. This chapt…Read more
  •  712
    The burgeoning literature on the ethical issues raised by climate engineering has explored various normative questions associated with the research and deployment of climate engineering, and has examined a number of responses to them. While researchers have noted the ethical issues from climate engineering are global in nature, much of the discussion proceeds predominately with ethical framework in the Anglo-American and European traditions, which presume particular normative standpoints and und…Read more
  •  587
    Responsible Innovation for Decent Nonliberal Peoples: A Dilemma?
    Journal of Responsible Innovation 3 (2): 154-168. 2016.
    It is hard to disagree with the idea of responsible innovation (henceforth, RI), as it enables policy-makers, scientists, technology developers, and the public to better understand and respond to the social, ethical, and policy challenges raised by new and emerging technologies. RI has gained prominence in policy agenda in Europe and the United States over the last few years. And, along with its rising importance in policy-making, there is also a burgeoning research literature on the topic. Give…Read more
  •  500
    Thinking through Consumption and Technology
    In Philip Brey, Adam Briggle & Edward Spence (eds.), The Good Life in a Technological Age, Routledge. 2012.
    Consumer society engenders a peculiar set of existential conditions, but it is often neglected in analyses of technology. The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate a way to examine technology through the set of existential conditions in consumer society, and, at the same time, argue for its importance in normative analyses of technology. Particularly, this chapter argues against a specific pattern of argument against technology to be inadequate in isolation of an analysis of consumer society. In…Read more
  •  489
    Confucian Social Media: An Oxymoron?
    Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 12 (3): 283-296. 2013.
    International observers and critics often attack China's Internet policy on the basis of liberal values. If China's Internet is designed and built on Confucian values that are distinct from, and sometimes incompatible to, liberal values, then the liberalist critique ought to be reconsidered. In this respect, Mary Bockover's “Confucian Values and the Internet: A Potential Conflict” appears to be the most direct attempt to address this issue. Yet, in light of developments since its publication in …Read more
  •  430
    Consenting to Geoengineering
    Philosophy and Technology 29 (2): 173-188. 2016.
    Researchers have explored questions concerning public participation and consent in geoengineering governance. Yet, the notion of consent has received little attention from researchers, and it is rarely discussed explicitly, despite being prescribed as a normative requirement for geoengineering research and being used in rejecting some geoengineering options. As it is noted in the leading geoengineering governance principles, i.e. the Oxford Principles, there are different conceptions of consent;…Read more
  •  410
    Compensation for Geoengineering Harms and No-Fault Climate Change Compensation
    The Climate Geoengineering Governance Working Papers. 2014.
    While geoengineering may counteract negative effects of anthropogenic climate change, it is clear that most geoengineering options could also have some harmful effects. Moreover, it is predicted that the benefits and harms of geoengineering will be distributed unevenly in different parts of the world and to future generations, which raises serious questions of justice. It has been suggested that a compensation scheme to redress geoengineering harms is needed for geoengineering to be ethically a…Read more
  •  384
    Dao, Harmony and Personhood: Towards a Confucian Ethics of Technology
    Philosophy and Technology 25 (1): 67-86. 2012.
    A closer look at the theories and questions in philosophy of technology and ethics of technology shows the absence and marginality of non-Western philosophical traditions in the discussions. Although, increasingly, some philosophers have sought to introduce non-Western philosophical traditions into the debates, there are few systematic attempts to construct and articulate general accounts of ethics and technology based on other philosophical traditions. This situation is understandable, for the …Read more
  •  382
    Distributive Justice, Geoengineering and Risks
    The Climate Geoengineering Governance Working Papers. 2014.
    It is generally recognised that the potential positive and negative impacts of geoengineering will be distributed unevenly both geographically and temporally. The question of distributive justice in geoengineering thus is one of the major ethical issues associated with geoengineering. Currently, the question of distributive justice in geoengineering is framed in terms of who gets what (potential) benefits and harms from geoengineering, i.e. it is about the distribution of the outcomes of geoengi…Read more
  •  344
    Digital media has become an integral part of people’s lives, and its ubiquity and pervasiveness in our everyday lives raise new ethical, social, cultural, political, economic and legal issues. Many of these issues have primarily been dealt with in terms of what is ‘right’ or ‘just’ with digital media and digitally-mediated practices, and questions about the relations between digital media and the good life are often left in the background. In short, what is often missing is an explicit discussio…Read more
  •  314
    The Public and Geoengineering Decision-Making
    Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology 17 (3): 350-367. 2013.
    In response to the Royal Society report’s claim that “the acceptability of geo­engineering will be determined as much by social, legal, and political issues as by scientific and technical factors” (Geoengineering the Climate: Science, Governance and Uncertainty [London: Royal Society, 2009], ix), a number of authors have suggested the key to this challenge is to engage the public in geoengineering decision-making. In effect, some have argued that inclusion of the public in geoengineering decisio…Read more
  •  305
    There is never a shortage of celebratory and condemnatory popular discourse on digital media even in its early days. This, of course, is also true of the advent of Web 2.0. In this article, I shall argue that normative analyses of digital media should not take lightly the popular discourse, as it can deepen our understanding of the normative and axiological foundation(s) of our judgements towards digital media. Looking at some of the most representative examples available, I examine the latest w…Read more
  •  300
    A Walzerian approach to ICTs and the good life
    Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 10 (1): 19-35. 2012.
    PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce an interpretive approach to examining the relation between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the good life, based on Michael Walzer's view of (connected) social criticism.Design/methodology/approachThrough a discussion of Michael Walzer's view of social criticism, an interpretive approach to normative analysis of ICTs and the good life is introduced. The paper also offers an additional argument for the indispensability of prude…Read more
  •  280
    Maintenance Required: The Ethics of Geoengineering and Post-Implementation Scenarios
    Ethics, Policy and Environment 17 (2): 186-191. 2014.
    The ethics of geoengineering has gained momentum in recent academic debate. The current debates, however, is typically framed in terms of (i) the first-order question about the moral permissibility of geoengineering, and (ii) the second-order question about the distributive and compensatory issues associated with geoengineering. Both (i) and (ii) are central to decision-making about geoengineering, but they have not cover all ethical issues related to geoengineering. I argue that a preoccupation…Read more
  •  276
    Technology, Recommendation and Design: On Being a 'Paternalistic' Philosopher
    Science and Engineering Ethics 19 (1): 27-42. 2013.
    Philosophers have talked to each other about moral issues concerning technology, but few of them have talked about issues of technology and the good life, and even fewer have talked about technology and the good life with the public in the form of recommendation. In effect, recommendations for various technologies are often left to technologists and gurus. Given the potential benefits of informing the public on their impacts on the good life, however, this is a curious state of affairs. In the p…Read more
  •  260
    In Information and Computer Ethics (ICE), and, in fact, in normative and evaluative research of Information Technology (IT) in general, researchers have paid few attentions to the prudential values of IT. Hence, analyses of the prudential values of IT are mostly found in popular discourse. Yet, the analyses of the prudential values of IT are important for answering normative questions about people’s well-being. In this chapter, the author urges researchers in ICE to take the analyses of the prud…Read more
  •  255
    Geoengineering Governance, the Linear Model of Innovation, and the Accompanying Geoengineering Approach
    with Nils Markusson
    The Climate Geoengineering Governance Working Papers. 2015.
    This paper aims to address the lack of critique of the linear model in geoengineering governance discourse, and to illustrate different considerations for a geoengineering governance framework that is not based on a linear model of technology innovation. Finally, we set to explore a particular approach to geoengineering governance based on Peter-Paul Verbeek’s notion of ‘technology accompaniment’
  •  223
    The 'Good Life'in Intercultural Information Ethics: A New Agenda
    International Review of Information Ethics 13 26-32. 2010.
    Current research in Intercultural Information Ethics is preoccupied, almost exclusively, by moral and political issues concerning the right and the just These issues are undeniably important, and with the continuing development and diffusion of ICTs, we can only be sure more moral and political problems of similar kinds are going to emerge in the future. Yet, as important as those problems are, I want to argue that researchers' preoccupation with the right and the just are undesirable. I shall a…Read more
  •  201
    Nearly a decade ago, Rafael Capurro has gradually shifted his attention towards the ideas of message and of messenger. In lieu of ‘information’, he proposes and develops a new direction of research he calls Angeletics that aims to examine the nature of message and messenger, both of which are inherently social. Coincidently, at about the same time, we witnessed the rise of social epistemology in Angelo-American analytic philosophy. This coincidence is interesting, because both Capurro’s Angelet…Read more
  •  192
    What should we share?: understanding the aim of Intercultural Information Ethics
    Acm Sigcas Computers and Society 39 (3): 50-58. 2009.
    The aim of Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE), as Ess aptly puts, is to “(a) address both local and global issues evoked by ICTs / CMC, etc., (b) in a ways that both sustain local traditions / values / preference, etc. and (c) provide shared, (quasi-) universal responses to central ethical problems” (Ess 2007a, 102). This formulation of the aim of IIE, however, is not unambiguous. In this paper, I will discuss two different understandings of the aim of IIE, one of which advocates “shared no…Read more
  •  133
    Thinking About ‘Ethics’ in the Ethics of AI
    with Judith Simon
    IDEES 48. 2020.
    A major international consultancy firm identified ‘AI ethicist’ as an essential position for companies to successfully implement artificial intelligence (AI) at the start of 2019. It declares that AI ethicists are needed to help companies navigate the ethical and social issues raised by the use of AI. Top 5 AI hires companies need to succeed in 2019. The view that AI is beneficial but nonetheless potentially harmful to individuals and society is widely shared by the industry, academia, governmen…Read more
  •  98
    Algorithmic bias and the Value Sensitive Design approach
    with Judith Simon and Gernot Rieder
    Internet Policy Review 9 (4). 2020.
    Recently, amid growing awareness that computer algorithms are not neutral tools but can cause harm by reproducing and amplifying bias, attempts to detect and prevent such biases have intensified. An approach that has received considerable attention in this regard is the Value Sensitive Design (VSD) methodology, which aims to contribute to both the critical analysis of (dis)values in existing technologies and the construction of novel technologies that account for specific desired values. This ar…Read more
  •  97
    Mapping the Stony Road toward Trustworthy AI: Expectations, Problems, Conundrums
    with Gernot Rieder and Judith Simon
    In Marcello Pelillo & Teresa Scantamburlo (eds.), Machines We Trust: Perspectives on Dependable AI, . forthcoming.
    The notion of trustworthy AI has been proposed in response to mounting public criticism of AI systems, in particular with regard to the proliferation of such systems into ever more sensitive areas of human life without proper checks and balances. In Europe, the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence has recently presented its Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. To some, the guidelines are an important step for the governance of AI. To others, the guidelines distract effort from gen…Read more
  •  70
    Cultural differences pose a serious challenge to the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence from a global perspective. Cultural differences may enable malignant actors to disregard the demand of important ethical values or even to justify the violation of them through deference to the local culture, either by affirming the local culture lacks specific ethical values, e.g., privacy, or by asserting the local culture upholds conflicting values, e.g., state intervention is good. One respo…Read more
  •  69
    Robots and other smart machines are increasingly interwoven into the social fabric of our society, with the area and scope of their application continuing to expand. As we become accustomed to interacting through and with robots, we also begin to supplement or replace existing human–human interactions with human–machine interactions. This article aims to discuss the impacts of the shift from human–human interactions to human–machine interactions in one facet of our self-constitution, i.e., moral…Read more
  •  37
    Global Engineering Ethics
    In Diane Michelfelder & Neelke Doorn (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Engineering, Taylor & Francis Ltd. 2021.
    Global engineering ethics is the engineering ethics’ response to globalization. It plays a major role in the received narrative about the need for a global engineering ethics, which is often illustrated by stories of some engineers A (of culture X) who interact with people or organizations of culture Y, and as a result encounter conflicts between their (i.e. culture X’s) ethical values and culture Y’s ethical values that generate ethical conundrums to the engineers. Global engineering ethics is …Read more
  •  31
    Over Nederlandse directheid
    Wijsgerig Perspectief 49 (4): 44-45. 2009.
  •  23
    This anthology examines the practical role of well-being in contemporary society. It discusses developments such as globalization, consumerism and the rapid innovation and use of new and emerging technologies and focuses on the significant impact of these developments on the well-being of people living today. The anthology brings together researchers from various disciplines, including psychology, economics, sociology, philosophy and development studies. It provides concrete insight on the role …Read more
  •  20
    Harmonious Technology: A Confucian Ethics of Technology
    with Tom Xiaowei Wang
    Routledge. 2021.
    Technology has become a major subject of philosophical ethical reflection in recent years, as the novelty and disruptiveness of technology confront us with new possibilities and unprecedented outcomes as well as fundamental changes to our ‘normal’ ways of living that demand deep reflection of technology. However, philosophical and ethical analysis of technology has until recently drawn primarily from the Western philosophical and ethical traditions, and philosophers and scholars of technology di…Read more