Being Humane in a Digital World

Activity: Academic Talks or PresentationsKeynoteResearch

Description

This keynote was given at the opening of the project. The key argument is that human beings are by nature technological beings. That is, they use their knowledge to create tools that can use to solve their problems, meet their needs, and achieve their desires. But human beings are also narrative beings. They use their language to share information, make sense of things, and teach other what they have learned. New technologies, from artificial intelligence, to IoT, and many more, have created a new language based on mathematics, many are not able to understand and yet they can use to tell their stories, in seamless micro-bits of information. Technology, in this sense, has widened our narrative and empowered us as narrators.
But to be humane means more than just acquiring information, sharing it and creating tools. Being humane means to understand the consequences of the actions we take with the tools we create and use. It means to exercise judgement and in doing so to place ourselves as the other, to feel sympathy and empathy. Being humane means to have knowledge and conscience.
The question to every one of us, but more so for us as teachers and researchers in universities, is how to prepare our future generations for a world where machines and technology will think for them. Our task is not just to equip students with technology, but knowledge and wisdom.
Period23 Sept 2019
Held atFaculty of Philosophy and Education, University of Turin, Italy, Italy
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • digital innovation
  • Internet of things
  • ethics
  • digital ethics
  • Digital Transformation
  • Blockchain