Technological Consciousness and Moral Agency

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Author(s): Luppicini Rocci (University of Ottawa, Canada)
Copyright: 2010
Pages: 20
Source title: Technoethics and the Evolving Knowledge Society: Ethical Issues in Technological Design, Research, Development, and Innovation
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Rocci Luppicini (University of Ottawa, Canada)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-952-6.ch003

Keywords: Information Ethics / Information Science Reference / IT Security and Ethics / Security & Forensics

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Abstract

Is it possible to explain social and ethical aspects of technology in society without considering the human minds and actions intertwined within technological advances? Can legal and ethical questions concerning agency in autonomous machines be addressed without meditating on the conditions of consciousness required for agency? The answer to both these questions is no. A persistent problem in the study of technology today is the lack of attention to the nature of the human mind and how it fits into the real world of technology. Scholars have tended to draw on philosophical-sociological theory and group themselves into camps (e.g., technological determinism, social constructivism, actor-network theory, etc.). Most of these theories, however, fail to address the human side of technology that lies within ‘individual’ minds and bodies that affect and are affected by technology at a deeply personal level. In other words, the mental life of human subjects is not a core consideration in the study of technology in society. What remains is a persisting problem within a continually advancing technological society to understand the relationship between technology, consciousness, and society.

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