Preface ....................................................... xii
Acknowledgements ............................................. xvii
List of most common acronyms ................................... xx
List of figures ............................................... xxi
List of tables ............................................... xxii
Chapter 1. Ethics after the information revolution .............. 1
Summary ......................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction: the hyperhistorical predicament .............. 3
1.2 The zettabyte era .......................................... 5
1.3 ICTs as re-ontologizing technologies ....................... 6
1.4 The global infosphere, or how information is becoming our
ecosystem .................................................. 8
1.5 The metaphysics of the infosphere ......................... 10
1.6 The information turn as the fourth revolution ............. 13
1.7 The evolution of inforgs .................................. 14
Conclusion ..................................................... 17
Chapter 2. What is information ethics? ......................... 19
Summary ........................................................ 19
2.1 Introduction: a unified model of information ethics ....... 20
2.2 First stage: IE as an ethics of informational resources ... 21
2.3 Second stage: IE as an ethics of informational products ... 23
2.4 Third stage: IE as an ethics of the informational
environment ............................................... 24
2.5 Fourth stage: IE as a macroethics ......................... 25
Conclusion ..................................................... 28
Chapter 3. The method of abstraction ........................... 29
Summary ........................................................ 29
3.1 Introduction: on the very idea of levels of abstraction ... 30
3.2 The definition of a level of abstraction .................. 31
3.3 Abstraction and ontological commitment .................... 34
3.4 An application of the method of abstraction:
telepresence .............................................. 36
3.4.1 Presence as epistemic failure ...................... 37
3.4.2 Presence as successful observation ................. 41
3.4.3 Virtual pornography ................................ 44
3.4.4 An objection against presence as successful
observation ........................................ 46
3.4.3 Informational privacy: from intrusion to
abduction .......................................... 49
3.4.4 The method of abstraction and telepresence ......... 51
Conclusion ................................................ 51
Chapter 4. Information ethics as e-nvironmental ethics ......... 53
Summary ........................................................ 53
4.1 Introduction: the foundationalist problem ................. 54
4.2 Classic macroethics and ICTs ethical problems ............. 58
4.3 An informational model of macroethics ..................... 61
4.4 From computer ethics to information ethics ................ 63
4.5 Information ethics as a patient-oriented and ontocentric
theory .................................................... 65
4.5.1 Uniformity of Being ................................ 65
4.5.2 Uniformity of nothingness, non-Being, or
metaphysical entropy ............................... 65
4.5.3 Uniformity of change ............................... 67
4.5.4 The ontological equality principle ................. 68
4.6 The normative aspect of information ethics: four ethical
principles ................................................ 70
4.6.1 The non-monotonic nature of goodness and its
resilience ......................................... 72
4.7 Information ethics as a macroethics ....................... 74
4.7.1 IE is a complete macroethics ....................... 74
4.7.2 IE and other non-standard ethics ................... 76
4.7.3 IE and virtue ethics ............................... 77
4.7.4 IE and deontologism ................................ 77
4.7.5 IE and consequentialism ............................ 77
4.8 Case analysis: three examples ............................. 79
4.8.1 Vandalism .......................................... 80
4.8.2 Bioengineering ..................................... 82
4.8.3 Death .............................................. 82
Conclusion ..................................................... 84
Chapter 5. Information ethics and the foundationalist debate ... 86
Summary ........................................................ 86
5.1 Introduction: looking for the foundations of computer
ethics .................................................... 87
5.2 The 'no resolution approach': CE as not a real
discipline ................................................ 88
5.3 The professional approach: CE as a pedagogical
methodology ............................................... 90
5.4 Theoretical CE and the uniqueness debate .................. 92
5.5 The radical approach: CE as a unique discipline ........... 93
5.6 The conservative approach: CE as applied ethics ........... 94
5.7 The innovative approach: information ethics as the
foundation of CE .......................................... 97
Conclusion ..................................................... 99
Chapter 6. The intrinsic value of the infosphere .............. 102
Summary ....................................................... 102
6.1 Introduction: an object-oriented model of moral action ... 103
6.2 The role of information in ethics ........................ 109
6.3 An axiological analysis of information ................... 112
6.3.1 A critique of Kantian axiology .................... 114
6.3.2 A patient-oriented approach to axiology ........... 115
6.3.3 IE's axiological ecumenism ........................ 122
6.4 Five objections .......................................... 124
6.4.1 The need for an ontology .......................... 124
6.4.2 How can an informational entity have 'a good of
its own'? ......................................... 125
6.4.3 What happened to Evil? ............................ 128
6.4.4 Is there a communication problem? ................. 130
6.4.5 Right but irrelevant? ............................. 132
Conclusion .................................................... 133
Chapter 7. The morality of artificial agents .................. 134
Summary ....................................................... 134
7.1 Introduction: standard vs. non-standard theories of
agents and patients ...................................... 135
7.2 What is an agent? ........................................ 138
7.2.1 An effective characterization of agents ........... 140
7.2.2 Examples .......................................... 141
7.3 What is a moral agent? ................................... 146
7.4 Mindless morality ........................................ 148
7.4.1 The teleological objection ........................ 148
7.4.2 The intentional objection ......................... 149
7.4.3 The freedom objection ............................. 149
7.4.4 The responsibility objection ...................... 150
7.5 The morality threshold ................................... 152
7.6 A concrete application ................................... 153
7.6.1 Codes of ethics ................................... 155
7.6.2 Censorship ........................................ 156
7.7 The advantage of extending the class of moral agents ..... 157
Conclusion .................................................... 159
Chapter 8. The constructionist values of homo poieticus ....... 161
Summary ....................................................... 161
8.1 Introduction: reactive and proactive macroethics ......... 162
8.2 The scope and limits of virtue ethics as
a constructionist ethics ................................. 164
8.3 Why information ethics cannot be based on virtue ethics .. 166
8.4 Ecopoiesis ............................................... 168
8.5 Poiesis in the infosphere ................................ 169
8.5.1 Interfaces ........................................ 169
8.5.2 Open source ....................................... 170
8.5.3 Digital arts ...................................... 172
8.5.4 The construction of the self ...................... 173
8.5.5 Virtual communities ............................... 174
8.5.6 Constructionism on the web ........................ 175
8.6 Homo poieticus ........................................... 175
Conclusion .................................................... 177
Chapter 9. Artificial evil .................................... 180
Summary ....................................................... 180
9.1 Introduction: the nature of evil ......................... 180
9.2 Nonsubstantialism: a deflatory interpretation of the
existence of evil ........................................ 183
9.3 The evolution of evil and the theodicean problem ......... 185
9.4 Artificial evil .......................................... 187
Conclusion .................................................... 191
Chapter 10. The tragedy of the Good Will ...................... 194
Summary ....................................................... 194
10.1 Introduction: modelling a Good Will ...................... 194
10.2 The tragic and the scandalous ............................ 197
10.3 The IT-heodicean problem ................................. 200
10.4 Cassandra's predicament .................................. 201
10.5 Escaping the tragic condition ............................ 204
10.5.1 The Copenhagen Consensus: using information to
cope with information ............................. 206
Conclusion .................................................... 208
Chapter 11. The informational nature of selves ................ 210
Summary ....................................................... 210
11.1 Introduction: Plato and the problem of the chariot ....... 211
11.2 Egology and its two branches ............................. 213
11.3 Egology as synchronic individualization .................. 215
11.4 A reconciling hypothesis: the three membranes model ...... 217
11.4.1 Phase one: the corporeal membrane and the
organism .......................................... 219
11.4.2 Phase two: the cognitive membrane and the
intelligent animal ................................ 220
11.4.3 Phase three: the consciousness membrane and the
self-conscious mind ............................... 220
11.5 ICTs as technologies of the self ......................... 221
11.5.1 Embodiment: from dualism to polarism .............. 221
11.5.2 Space: the detachment between location and
presence .......................................... 222
11.5.3 Time: the detachment between outdating and
ageing ............................................ 222
11.5.4 Memories and interactions: fixing the self ........ 223
11.5.5 Perception: the digital gaze ...................... 223
11.6 The logic of realization ................................ 225
11.7 From the egology to the ecology of the self ............. 226
Conclusion .................................................... 227
Chapter 12. The ontological interpretation of informational
privacy ....................................................... 228
Summary ....................................................... 228
12.1 Introduction: the dearest of our possessions ............. 229
12.2 Informational privacy and computer ethics ................ 229
12.3 Informational privacy as a function of ontological
friction ................................................. 231
12.4 Ontological friction and the difference between old and
new ICTs ................................................. 232
12.5 Informational privacy in the re-ontologized infosphere ... 235
12.5.1 Empowering the information agent .................. 236
12.5.2 The return of the (digital) community ............. 236
12.5.3 Assessing theories of privacy ..................... 240
12.5.4 The ontological interpretation of informational
privacy and its value ............................. 242
12.6 Informational privacy, personal identity, and
biometrics ............................................... 246
12.7 Four challenges for a theory of informational privacy .... 249
12.7.1 Non-Western approaches to informational privacy ... 249
12.7.2 Individualism and the anthropology of
informational privacy ............................. 251
12.7.3 The scope and limits of informational privacy ..... 253
12.7.4 Public, passive, and active informational
privacy ........................................... 256
12.8 Non-informational privacies .............................. 257
Conclusion .................................................... 258
Chapter 13. Distributed morality .............................. 261
Summary ....................................................... 261
13.1 Introduction: the basic idea of distributed morality ..... 262
13.2 The old ethical scenario without distributed morality .... 263
13.3 The new ethical scenario with distributed morality ....... 265
13.4 Some examples of distributed morality .................... 267
13.4.1 The shopping Samaritan: (RED) ..................... 268
13.4.2 Plastic fidelity: the Co-operative Bank ........... 268
13.4.3 The power of giving: JustGiving ................... 268
13.4.4 Socially oriented capitalism: peer-to-peer
lending ........................................... 269
13.5 The big challenge: harnessing the power of DM ............ 269
13.6 Distributed morality and the enabling infraethics ........ 272
Conclusion .................................................... 274
Chapter 14. Information business ethics ....................... 277
Summary ....................................................... 277
14.1 Introduction: from information ethics to business
ethics ................................................... 279
14.2 The informational analysis of business ................... 280
14.3 The WHI ethical questions: what, how, and impact ......... 284
14.4 Normative pressure points ................................ 285
14.5 The ethical business ..................................... 287
Conclusion .................................................... 290
Chapter 15. Global information ethics ........................ 292
Summary ....................................................... 292
15.1 Introduction: from globalization to information ethics ... 293
15.1.1 Contraction ....................................... 293
15.1.2 Expansion ......................................... 294
15.1.3 Porosity .......................................... 294
15.1.4 Telepresence ...................................... 295
15.1.5 Synchronization ................................... 295
15.1.6 Correlation ....................................... 295
15.2 Globalizing ethics ....................................... 296
15.3 Global-communication ethics vs. global-information
ethics ................................................... 296
15.4 Global-information ethics and the problem of the lion .... 297
15.5 Global information-ethics and its advantages ............. 299
15.6 The cost of a global-information ethics: postulating
the ontic trust .......................................... 300
Conclusion ............................................... 303
Chapter 16. In defence of information ethics .................. 306
Summary ....................................................... 306
16.1 Introduction: addressing the sceptic ..................... 306
16.2 IE is an ethics of news .................................. 307
16.3 IE is too reductivist .................................... 308
16.4 IE fails to indicate what information constitutes an
individual ............................................... 309
16.5 IE's de-anthropocentrization of the ethical discourse
is mistaken .............................................. 312
16.6 IE is inapplicable ....................................... 313
16.7 IE is supererogatory ..................................... 314
16.8 IE is hypermoralistic .................................... 316
16.9 IE's measure of intrinsic moral value is insufficiently
clear and specific ...................................... 317
16.10 IE's inference from moral value to moral respect is
incorrect ............................................... 317
16.11 IE's negative argument for the intrinsic moral
goodness of Being is incorrect .......................... 319
16.12 IE's claim to be universal is unclear and possibly
contradictory ........................................... 320
16.13 IE's egalitarianism is untenable ........................ 322
16.14 IE commits the naturalistic fallacy ..................... 323
16.15 IE's account of intrinsic value is incorrect ............ 324
16.16 IE is counterintuitive .................................. 325
16.17 IE's adoption of LoA is mistaken ........................ 326
16.18 IE's interpretation of artificial agents as
autonomous moral agents is mistaken ..................... 327
16.19 IE is too conservationist ............................... 327
16.20 IE is pantheistic or panpsychistic ...................... 328
Conclusion .................................................... 329
Epilogue ...................................................... 331
References .................................................... 334
Index ......................................................... 353
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