Showing papers in "Ai & Society in 2017"

Preparing for the future of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract: In October 2016, the US National Science and Technology Council published a report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) (United States 2016) that summarised evidence from a wide variety of sources on how they expect AI to develop, what impact it would have and what actions it recommended the US Government to take. It built on several previous US Government reports, e.g. United States (2014, 2016), and consulted widely among AI experts in the USA, e.g. Horvitz and Selman (2009) and five workshops. A companion document has also been published: ‘‘The National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan’’, which lays out a strategic plan for federally funded research and development in AI. Overall, this is a comprehensive report, which I recommend to anyone wanting a balanced review of the state of the AI art, its potential impact and what ethical, economic and societal issues it presents. It does, of course, duck some of the more difficult issues—or rather recommend that someone else considers them in detail. This concern about AI is, of course, triggered by the phenomenal recent successes of mainly statistical machine learning in games (Chess, Go and Jeopardy), self-driving cars, automated assistants (Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Now and Microsoft Cortana). The other main driver is the worry that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will exceed human intelligence and supplant us as the dominant species on the Earth—the, so-called, Singularity. The report wisely ignores concerns about the Singularity, claiming that, if it occurs at all, it’s a long way in the future, and that the immediate actions should be the same whether or not it occurs. It points out that the AI successes have been in, what it calls, narrow AI, i.e. often superhuman performance in a very narrow task, e.g. playing Go. I call such systems idiot savants. In contrast, progress in AGI has been disappointing, with no sign that this will improve in the foreseeable future. So the report focuses on the prospects for narrow AI. It claims that it has already brought ‘‘major benefits to the public in fields as diverse as health care, transportation, the environment, criminal justice and economic inclusion’’. The report then explores its potential in autonomous vehicles, governance, education, cyber-security and weapons. This exploration uncovers a number of important issues and concludes with 23 recommendations. These issues and recommendations include the following:

The case of classroom robots: teachers’ deliberations on the ethical tensions

Abstract: Robots are increasingly being studied for use in education. It is expected that robots will have the potential to facilitate children’s learning and function autonomously within real classrooms in the near future. Previous research has raised the importance of designing acceptable robots for different practices. In parallel, scholars have raised ethical concerns surrounding children interacting with robots. Drawing on a Responsible Research and Innovation perspective, our goal is to move away from research concerned with designing features that will render robots more socially acceptable by end users toward a reflective dialogue whose goal is to consider the key ethical issues and long-term consequences of implementing classroom robots for teachers and children in primary education. This paper presents the results from several focus groups conducted with teachers in three European countries. Through a thematic analysis, we provide a theoretical account of teachers’ perspectives on classroom robots pertaining to privacy, robot role, effects on children and responsibility. Implications for the field of educational robotics are discussed.

On the promotion of safe and socially beneficial artificial intelligence

Abstract: This paper discusses means for promoting artificial intelligence (AI) that is designed to be safe and beneficial for society (or simply “beneficial AI”). The promotion of beneficial AI is a social challenge because it seeks to motivate AI developers to choose beneficial AI designs. Currently, the AI field is focused mainly on building AIs that are more capable, with little regard to social impacts. Two types of measures are available for encouraging the AI field to shift more toward building beneficial AI. Extrinsic measures impose constraints or incentives on AI researchers to induce them to pursue beneficial AI even if they do not want to. Intrinsic measures encourage AI researchers to want to pursue beneficial AI. Prior research focuses on extrinsic measures, but intrinsic measures are at least as important. Indeed, intrinsic factors can determine the success of extrinsic measures. Efforts to promote beneficial AI must consider intrinsic factors by studying the social psychology of AI research communities.

Digital technologies and artificial intelligence's present and foreseeable impact on lawyering, judging, policing and law enforcement

Abstract: `AI & Law' research has been around since the 1970s, even though with shifting emphasis. This is an overview of the contributions of digital technologies, both artificial intelligence and non-AI smart tools, to both the legal professions and the police. For example, we briefly consider text mining and case-automated summarization, tools supporting argumentation, tools concerning sentencing based on the technique of case-based reasoning, the role of abductive reasoning, research into applying AI to legal evidence, tools for fighting crime and tools for identification.

Language and technology: maps, bridges, and pathways

Abstract: Contemporary philosophy of technology after the empirical turn has surprisingly little to say on the relation between language and technology. This essay describes this gap, offers a preliminary discussion of how language and technology may be related to show that there is a rich conceptual space to be gained, and begins to explore some ways in which the gap could be bridged by starting from within specific philosophical subfields and traditions. One route starts from philosophy of language (both "analytic" and "continental": Searle and Heidegger) and discusses some potential implications for thinking about technology; another starts from artefact-oriented approaches in philosophy of technology and STS and shows that these approaches might helpfully be extended by theorizing relationships between language and technological artefacts. The essay concludes by suggesting a research agenda, which invites more work on the relation between language and technology.

Nudging for good: robots and the ethical appropriateness of nurturing empathy and charitable behavior

Abstract: An under-examined aspect of human---robot interaction that warrants further exploration is whether robots should be permitted to influence a user's behavior for that person's own good. Yet an even more controversial practice could be on the horizon, which is allowing a robot to "nudge" a user's behavior for the good of society. In this article, we examine the feasibility of creating companion robots that would seek to nurture a user's empathy toward other human beings. As more and more computing devices subtly and overtly influence human behavior, it is important to draw attention to whether it would be ethically appropriate for roboticists to pursue this type of design pathway. Our primary focus is on whether a companion robot could encourage humans to perform charitable acts; this design possibility illustrates the range of socially just actions that a robot could potentially elicit from a user and what the associated ethical concerns may be.

Freud, Frankenstein and our fear of robots: projection in our cultural perception of technology

Abstract: This paper examines why robots are so often presented as monstrous in the popular media (e.g. film, newspapers), regardless of the intended applications of the robots themselves. The figure of the robot monster is examined in its historical and cultural specificity—that is, as a direct descendent of monsters that we have grown accustomed to since the nineteenth century: Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde, vampires, zombies, etc. Using the psychoanalytic notion of projection, these monsters are understood as representing human anxieties regarding the dehumanising tendencies of science and reason, and regarding a perceived transformation in human nature over the last two hundred years. In analysing these anxieties, we can therefore gain insight into the fears—genuine or naive—that the public harbours towards new advancements in technology; these insights can then inform those working with and designing living machines as to how their inventions might be received.

Sentiment analysis on social campaign “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” using unigram method

Abstract: Sentiment analysis is the field of natural language processing to analyze opinionated data, for the purpose of decision making. An opinion is a statement about a subject which expresses the sentiments as well as the emotions of the opinion makers on the topic. In this paper, we develop a sentiment analysis tool namely SENTI-METER. This tool estimates the success rate of social campaigns based on the algorithms we developed that analyze the sentiment of word as well as blog. Social campaigns have a huge impact on the mindset of people. One such campaign was launched in India on October 2, 2014, named Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA). Our tool computes an elaborated analysis of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which examines the success rate of this social campaign. Here, we performed the location-wise analysis of the campaign and predict the degree of polarity of tweets along with the monthly and weekly analysis of the tweets. The experiments were conducted in five phases namely extraction and preprocessing of tweets, tokenization, sentiment evaluation of a line, sentiment evaluation of a blog (document) and analysis. Our tool is also capable of handling transliterated words. Unbiased tweets were extracted from Twitter related to this specific campaign, and on comparing with manual tagging we were able to achieve 84.47 % accuracy using unigram machine learning approach. This approach helps the government to implement the social campaigns effectively for the betterment of the society.

Arguments from authority and expert opinion in computational argumentation systems

Abstract: In this paper we show that an essential aspect of solving the problem of uncritical acceptance of expert opinions that is at the root of the ad verecundiam fallacy is the need to disentangle argument from expert opinion from another kind of appeal to authority. Formal and computational argumentation systems enable us to analyze the fault in which an error has occurred by virtue of a failure to meet one or more of the requirements of the argumentation scheme from argument from expert opinion. We present a method for enhancing this capability by showing how arguments from expert opinion are related to, but different from, arguments from deontic authority.

Digitization as an ethical challenge

Abstract: The changes brought about by digitization can be compared with the ones that took place in Europe in Modernity with a peak in the industrial revolution in the 19th century. These changes concerned European self-understanding particularly with regard to the idea that not god but the human being was the center of reality. To be human means not to be god’s creature but an autonomous being who understands himself—it was mostly himself and not herself—as a subject facing objects in the so-called outside world. This subject/object dichotomy as developed by, for instance, René Descartes was the basis of the triumphal progress of modern science and technology. Modernity brought also up the paradox of decentering the human subject with regard to the universe (Copernican revolution), natural evolution (Darwin) and even to our own consciousness (Freud) while at the same time providing the basis for the conquest and exploitation of nature as well as for the domination of other nations politically, economically and culturally. European Modernity, now spread over the world, is Janus-faced: It has brought positive changes in human life while at the same time these changes were and are concomitant with colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, slavery, fascism, world wars and climate change. The selfunderstanding of humans as autonomous beings implied a change in the moral ideas and ideals based on metaphysical and theological presuppositions inherited from Antiquity and Middle Ages as well as the reasons and procedures for their political legitimization. How is morality without religion possible? How can political power be justified if there is no king by the grace of god? What are the rules of legitimization and the limits of human action if there are no dogmatic prescriptions? Based on which procedures and by which institutions are legal rules to be justified, evaluated and implemented? Digitization has breathtakingly evolved in the last twenty years implies no less a change in our self-understanding. But who is meant when we speak about ‘‘our’’ self-understanding? We are subjects embedded in a global network of networked objects. Being human means beingin-the-networked-world, most but not all of the time. The modern subject–object dichotomy as well as the dualism of autonomy versus heteronomy has changed. Networked things are not the same as the objects in the outside world imagined by Modernity, nor humans can be conceived of as purely as autonomous beings, something that was already questioned by the modern scientific and technological discoveries themselves. What makes the digital era unique is probably that although digitization is a project of Modernity it does not rely on the subject–object dichotomy in its original absolute form alone. Digitization changes the anthropological self-understanding of encapsulated worldless subjects facing objects in the so-called outside world. Digital ethics undertakes a critical reflection about ourselves in a world shaped by digital technology. It was developed since the 1940s by pioneers like Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) and Joseph Weizenbaum (1923–2008). It was first called computer ethics and dealt mainly with professional issues of computer scientists although Wiener and & Rafael Capurro rafael@capurro.de

Hermeneutics of technological culture

Abstract: It has become familiar today for us to blame technology for the various ills afflicting society. We rely on what we make to survive and live together in societies. Technological devices shape our rural societies, urban culture and the environment. They modify patterns of human activity. They influence who we are and how we live. Sometimes technological gadgets add to the excellence of our life style, and sometimes, they made our lives miserable. They engulf us, and we seem to be at a loss as to how to control them. Technologies such as automobiles, telephones and specs not only enlarge and extend our capacities, but also transform our experiences, thereby affecting changes in the natural and social worlds. In general, technologies either magnify or amplify our experiences, and can change the ways we live. This non-neutral, transformative power of humans enhanced by technologies is essential feature of the human-technology relations needed to be explored. The technological form of life is part and parcel of culture, just as culture in the human sense inescapably implies technologies. Technology can thus be seen as shaping the theoretical framework of our social existence. Technology as the fundamental cultural force2 depends of course on one’s definition. But even in the deep and wide sense, technology does not generate a totally new reality, but impresses itself as a pattern on all there is in various degrees (see Borgmann in this volume). And importantly, since it does so with our assent or complicity, this could

On the hermeneutics of everyday things: or, the philosophy of fire hydrants

Abstract: It can sometimes be difficult to think about "everyday" objects, those things we are so familiar with that they become taken-for-granted aspects of the backdrop of our world. But what if those objects, despite their everydayness, are politically fraught and call for closer examination? I suggest that insights from two contemporary perspectives, postphenomenology and actor-network theory, are useful for drawing out the experiential, social, and political dynamics of everyday things. In this paper, I review and resituate several key concepts from these two theoretical frameworks and outline a method for using them together for the evaluation of technology. As a guiding example, I explore a paradigmatic everyday device: fire hydrants. Despite their everyday character, hydrants fulfill multiple social roles, some of them loaded with difficult and important political implications.

Culture-specific models of negotiation for virtual characters: multi-attribute decision-making based on culture-specific values

Abstract: We posit that observed differences in negotiation performance across cultures can be explained by participants trying to optimize across multiple values, where the relative importance of values differs across cultures. We look at two ways for specifying weights on values for different cultures: one in which the weights of the model are hand-crafted, based on intuition interpreting Hofstede dimensions for the cultures, and one in which the weights of the model are learned from data using inverse reinforcement learning (IRL). We apply this model to the Ultimatum Game and integrate it into a virtual human dialog system. We show that weights learned from IRL surpass both a weak baseline with random weights and a strong baseline considering only one factor for maximizing gain in own wealth in accounting for the behavior of human players from four different cultures. We also show that the weights learned with our model for one culture outperform weights learned for other cultures when playing against opponents of the first culture.

`What I see is not what you get': why culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters should be user-tested across cultures

Abstract: Integrating culture into the behavioural models of virtual characters requires knowledge from very different disciplines such as cross-cultural psychology and computer science. If culture-related behavioural differences are simulated with a virtual character system, users might not necessarily understand the intent of the designer. This is, in part, due to the influence of culture on not only users, but also designers. To gain a greater understanding of the instantiation of culture in the behaviour of virtual characters, and on this potential mismatch between designer and user, we have conducted two experiments. In these experiments, we tried to simulate one dimension of culture (Masculinity vs. Femininity) in the behaviour of virtual characters. We created four scenarios in the first experiment and six in the second. In each of these scenarios, the same two characters interact with each other. The verbal and non-verbal behaviour of these characters differs depending on their cultural scripts. In two user perception studies, we investigated how these differences are judged by human participants with different cultural backgrounds. Besides expected differences between participants from Masculine and Feminine countries, we found significant differences in perception between participants from Individualistic and Collectivistic countries. We also found that the user's interpretation of the character's motivation had a significant influence on the perception of the scenarios. Based on our findings, we give recommendations for researchers that aim to design culture-specific behaviours for virtual characters.

The cultural influence model: when accented natural language spoken by virtual characters matters

Abstract: Advances in artificial intelligence and computer graphics digital technologies have contributed to a relative increase in realism in virtual characters. Preserving virtual characters' communicative realism, in particular, joined the ranks of the improvements in natural language technology, and animation algorithms. This paper focuses on culturally relevant paralinguistic cues in nonverbal communication. We model the effects of an English-speaking digital character with different accents on human interactants (i.e., users). Our cultural influence model proposes that paralinguistic realism, in the form of accented speech, is effective in promoting culturally congruent cognition only when it is self-relevant to users. For example, a Chinese or Middle Eastern English accent may be perceived as foreign to individuals who do not share the same ethnic cultural background with members of those cultures. However, for individuals who are familiar and affiliate with those cultures (i.e., in-group members who are bicultural), accent not only serves as a motif of shared social identity, it also primes them to adopt culturally appropriate interpretive frames that influence their decision making.

Real-time gesture translation in intercultural communication

Abstract: Nonverbal behavior plays a crucial role in human communication and often leads to misunderstandings between people from different cultures, even if they speak the same language fluently. While translation systems are available for verbal communication, translators for nonverbal communication do not exist yet. We present the conceptual design and an early prototype of a real-time gesture translator using body tracking and gesture recognition in avatar-mediated intercultural interactions. It contributes to the ambitious goal of bridging between cultures by translating culture-specific gestures to enhance mutual understanding. Possible applications of the gesture translator are discussed as a facilitating tool for global business meetings and as a means of technology-enhanced conflict resolution and prevention.

From Alan Turing to modern AI: practical solutions and an implicit epistemic stance

Abstract: It has been just over 100 years since the birth of Alan Turing and more than 65 years since he published in Mind his seminal paper, Computing Machinery and Intelligence (Turing in Computing machinery and intelligence. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1950). In the Mind paper, Turing asked a number of questions, including whether computers could ever be said to have the power of "thinking" ("I propose to consider the question, Can computers think?" ...Alan Turing, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Mind, 1950). Turing also set up a number of criteria--including his imitation game--under which a human could judge whether a computer could be said to be "intelligent". Turing's paper, as well as his important mathematical and computational insights of the 1930s and 1940s led to his popular acclaim as the "Father of Artificial Intelligence". In the years since his paper was published, however, no computational system has fully satisfied Turing's challenge. In this paper we focus on a different question, ignored in, but inspired by Turing's work: How might the Artificial Intelligence practitioner implement "intelligence" on a computational device? Over the past 60 years, although the AI community has not produced a general-purpose computational intelligence, it has constructed a large number of important artifacts, as well as taken several philosophical stances able to shed light on the nature and implementation of intelligence. This paper contends that the construction of any human artifact includes an implicit epistemic stance. In AI this stance is found in commitments to particular knowledge representations and search strategies that lead to a product's successes as well as its limitations. Finally, we suggest that computational and human intelligence are two different natural kinds, in the philosophical sense, and elaborate on this point in the conclusion.

Construction of national identity through a social network: a case study of ethnic networks of immigrants to Russia from Central Asia

Abstract: In contemporary discourse devoted to identity formation, there is important debate about the nature of the construction of virtual identities on the Internet. The research focuses on the virtual identity of the individual features of self-presentation on the Web. The study of the theme design of group social identity (gender, class, ethnicity) remains a peripheral consideration. This article presents an analysis of the mechanisms by which ethnic identity in ethnic groups in the Russian social network VKontakte ("In Contact", similar to Facebook) is created. The study aims to identify the roles and functions of social networks in national reproduction and ethnic support of Russian immigrants from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan). The study uses the method of semiotic analysis to describe the discursive rhetoric and symbols of national identity of immigrants in the ethnic communities on the Web. The author's research identifies a complex of paradigmatic and rhetorical elements that reflect an evolving ethnic identity of immigrants on social networks. These rhetorical techniques include the appeal to Islamic values, the Quran, and Sharia law; an appeal to Islamic unity, anti-Americanism, and Muslim fundamentalism; preaching the values of patriarchy and chaste behavior of Muslim women, and male dominance; the use of visual images and characters of national identity (images of animals, heroes); appeal to the heroic archaic time and national mythology, and the achievements of the national culture; and similar elements. In conclusion, the analysis of the context of immigrants in the ethnic community network on VKontakte shows two trends: on the one hand, ethnic segregation, the craving for Muslim fundamentalism, and aggression toward Western values and way of life, and on the other hand, secularization, gender emancipation, and consumer behavior assimilation in the modernized host Russian community.

Uncommon voices of AI

Abstract: Beyond the headlines of the thrill engendered by futuristic AI super machines, Virtual Reality and Internet of Things, what are we to make of artificial intelligence? A gigantic job eliminator? Or the next step in evolution, the one in which technology finally asserts its mastery over us? Or maybe artificial intelligence in its many guises become the source of redemptive systems that develop new medications for us and operate on us, that invest and multiply our capital, and that create more rational decision-makers? (Ars Electronica Festival 2017). The new wave of artificial super intelligence raises a number of serious societal concerns: what are the crises and shocks of the AI machine that will trigger fundamental change and how should we cope with the resulting transformation? Digital technologies are the box in which we all increasingly live. Living through dramatic technological change, we may feel trapped and disrupted, being left behind in the myth and reality of AI, and miss what is really at stake. The Silicon Valley technological culture may often see societal concerns and humanistic perspectives of digital technologies as rather inconvenient, but in the midst of this transformation we can hear voices of existential risk, reason, redemption and ethics. Sir Rees (2013) of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) (2017) gives an insight into the concerns and challenges of existential risk of ecological shocks, fast-spreading pandemics, and scarcity of resources, aggravated by climate change. For him, equally worrying are the imponderable downsides of powerful new cyber-, bio-, nanotechnologies, and synthetic biology. His concerns include a ‘‘sci-fi scenario’’, in which a network of computers could develop a mind of its own and threaten us all. It is hard to quantify the potential ‘‘existential’’ threats from (for instance) bioor cyber-technology, from artificial intelligence, or from runaway climatic catastrophes. He proposes forward planning and research to avoid unexpected catastrophic consequences and the imponderable downsides of powerful new cyber-, bioand nanotechnologies, and to circumvent societal breakdown due to error or terror. Ó Éigeartaigh (2017) gives a soothingly rational note when he says that humanity has already changed a lot over its lifetime as a species. While our biology is not drastically different from what it was a millennium ago, the capabilities enabled by our scientific, technological, and sociocultural achievements have changed what it is to be human. We have dramatically augmented our biological abilities, we can store and access more information than our brains can hold, and collectively solve problems that we could not do individually. AI systems of the future would be capable of matching or surpassing human intellectual abilities across a broad range of domains and challenges. The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) (2017) visualises a redemptive curve on the horizon while asking us to take note of the serious consequences of untamed AI and argues for developing a framework for responsible innovation that seeks maximising the societal benefit of AI. He cautions us about the possibility of creating computer intelligence equaling that of human intelligence. In this future scenario, freed of biological constraints, such as limited memory and slow biochemical processing speeds, machines may eventually become more intelligent than we are—with profound implications for us all. Any inter-disciplinary or crossdisciplinary collaborative effort to meet these challenges, & Karamjit S. Gill editoraisoc@yahoo.co.uk

Eloquence of eyes and mouth of virtual agents: cultural study of facial expression perception

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a cross-cultural study on facial regions as cues to recognize facial expressions of virtual agents. The experiment was conducted between Japan and Hungary using 30 facial expressions of cartoonish faces designed by Hungarians. The results suggest the following: (1) cultural differences exist when using facial regions as cues to recognize cartoonish facial expressions between Hungary and Japan. Japanese weighed facial cues more heavily in the eye region than Hungarians, who weighed facial cues more heavily in the mouth region than Japanese. (2) The mouth region is more effective for conveying the emotions of facial expressions than the eye region, regardless of country. Our findings can be used not only to derive design guidelines for virtual agent facial expressions when aiming at users of a single culture, but as adaptation strategies in applications with users from various cultures.

A formal account of opportunism based on the situation calculus

Abstract: In social interactions, it is common for individuals to possess different amounts of knowledge about a specific transaction, and those who are more knowledgeable might perform opportunistic behavior to others in their interest, which promotes their value but demotes others’ value. Such a typical social behavior is called opportunistic behavior (opportunism). In this paper, we propose a formal account of opportunism based on the situation calculus. We first propose a model of opportunism that only considers a single action between two agents, and then extend it to multiple actions and incorporate social context in the model. A simple example of selling a broken cup is used to illustrate our models. Through our models, we can have a thorough understanding of opportunism.

Singularitarianism and schizophrenia

Abstract: Given the contemporary ambivalent standpoints toward the future of artificial intelligence, recently denoted as the phenomenon of Singularitarianism, Gregory Bateson’s core theories of ecology of mind, schismogenesis, and double bind, are hereby revisited, taken out of their respective sociological, anthropological, and psychotherapeutic contexts and recontextualized in the field of Roboethics as to a twofold aim: (a) the proposal of a rigid ethical standpoint toward both artificial and non-artificial agents, and (b) an explanatory analysis of the reasons bringing about such a polarized outcome of contradictory views in regard to the future of robots Firstly, the paper applies the Batesonian ecology of mind for constructing a unified roboethical framework which endorses a flat ontology embracing multiple forms of agency, borrowing elements from Floridi’s information ethics, classic virtue ethics, Felix Guattari’s ecosophy, Braidotti’s posthumanism, and the Japanese animist doctrine of Rinri The proposed framework wishes to act as a pragmatic solution to the endless dispute regarding the nature of consciousness or the natural/artificial dichotomy and as a further argumentation against the recognition of future artificial agency as a potential existential threat Secondly, schismogenic analysis is employed to describe the emergence of the hostile human–robot cultural contact, tracing its origins in the early scientific discourse of man–machine symbiosis up to the contemporary countermeasures against superintelligent agents Thirdly, Bateson’s double bind theory is utilized as an analytic methodological tool of humanity’s collective agency, leading to the hypothesis of collective schizophrenic symptomatology, due to the constancy and intensity of confronting messages emitted by either proponents or opponents of artificial intelligence The double bind’s treatment is the mirroring “therapeutic double bind,” and the article concludes in proposing the conceptual pragmatic imperative necessary for such a condition to follow: humanity’s conscience of habitualizing danger and familiarization with its possible future extinction, as the result of a progressive blurrification between natural and artificial agency, succeeded by a totally non-organic intelligent form of agency

A socially inspired energy feedback technology: challenges in a developing scenario

Abstract: Raising awareness of the environmental impact of energy generation and consumption has been a recent concern of contemporary society worldwide. Underlying the awareness of energy consumption is an intricate network of perception and social interaction that can be mediated by technology. In this paper we argue that issues regarding energy, environment and technology are very much situated and involve tensions of sociocultural nature. This exploratory investigation addresses the subject by introducing the design of a Socially-inspired Energy Eco-Feedback Technology (SEET), which is composed of an interactive system to trigger and mediate collective savings and a tangible device as a public feedback. Results of an evaluation situated in the context of a school in a socially disadvantaged area in Brazil are discussed, shedding light on the sociocultural aspects related to the subject. The role of the SEET to motivate energy awareness collectively among the social group is assessed, as well as the design characteristics that contributed to that. Outcomes bring to light social aspects and dynamics that would hardly have been predicted, evidencing critical factors related to a socially inspired design approach in the energy awareness domain.

Heidegger on technology and Gelassenheit: wabi-sabi and the art of Verfallenheit

Abstract: The question of the contemporary relevance of Heidegger's reflections on technology to today's advanced technology is here explored with reference to the notion of "entanglement" towards a review of Heidegger's understanding of technology and media, including the entertainment industry and modern digital life. Heidegger's reflections on Gelassenheit have been connected with the aesthetics of the tea ceremony, disputing the material aesthetics of porcelain versus plastic. Here by approaching the art of wabi-sabi as the art of Verfallenheit, I argue that Gelassenheit may be understood in these terms.

Gestalt descriptions embodiments and medical image interpretation

Abstract: In this paper I will argue that medical specialists interpret and diagnose through technological mediations like X-ray and fMRI images, and by actualizing embodied skills tacitly they are determining the identity of objects in the perceptual field. The initial phase of human interpretation of visual objects takes place during the moments of visual perception before we are consciously aware of the perceived. What facilitate this innate ability to interpret are experiences, learning and training that become humanly embodied skills. These embodied skills are actualized during the moments of visual perception. My argument is that biology, society and instruments constitute unique individual ontologies influencing specialist readings of the technological output, in other words, putting limits on the "truth-to-nature" relation, which is so much sought for in science.

Anonymity interacting with participation on a Q&A site

Abstract: This article presents a study that investigates how anonymity influences user participation in an online question-and-answer platform [Quora ( https://www.quora.com/ )]. The study is one step in identifying hypotheses that can be used to address a research and design issue concerning the role of anonymity in online participation, particularly in sensitive situations where people are seeking social support. Based on the literature, we present a model that describes the factors that influence participation. These factors were used when analyzing the answers to questions in the health category on Quora. The results of this study were completed by a survey asking Quora users about their use of the anonymity feature. The main result is that the only significant difference between anonymous and non-anonymous answers is that: with anonymous answers, social appreciation correlated with the answer’s length.

Rethinking the I-You relation through dialogical philosophy in the Ethics of AI and robotics

Abstract: what does it say for how robotic and AI scientists conceptualise ‘relationship’? Is relationship instrumental? Is relationship mutual and reciprocal? There are many different kinds of relationships that people have. Our market economies structure work so that encounters between people in the work sphere take on a character of formal interactions ‘just a bottle of water please’, ‘I’m calling about my electricity bill’, or ‘can I buy £300 worth of Euros’. These formal interactions characterize a huge proportion of our lived experience. Some philosophers have characterised these types of relations between persons as ‘instrumental’. If these kinds of relations are ‘instrumental’ does that make people in the situations ‘instruments’ or ‘tools’? Humans are never tools or instruments, even if relations between people take on a formal character. When we meet a cashier at a checkout or restaurant service staff, they have not stopped being human just because they are only expressing themselves formally in the given situation. People do not stop being human and turn into instruments when they enter the working environment, and then switch back to being human in the private sphere. In every encounter we meet each other as persons, members of a common humanity. Is it possible to acknowledge this reality, but still meet another as a Thou? As a non-instrument?

Understanding the social impact of ICN: between myth and reality

Abstract: The information-centric networking (ICN) paradigm is attracting more and more interest from the research community due to its peculiarities that make it one of the best candidates for constructing the future Internet. For this reason, there are many papers in literature that study how to transform ICN principles in reality in order to magnify its relevance for the society. In order to provide a solid summary of the state of the art, the present contribution tries to summarize the main findings related to this research field. In particular, an overview on the most important ICN architectures, their main aspects, common networking approaches, and differences is provided. Moreover, the work carried out in standardization bodies, with particular attention to the list of baseline scenarios defined in this context, is illustrated. Also the main international projects that are trying to integrate ICN networking primitives in pioneering use cases are presented, describing proposed architectures and related challenges for enabling information-centric primitives in current network infrastructures. Finally, the work highlights design principles and core components to build ICN-enabled network devices.

Total enframing: Global South and techno-developmental orthodoxy

Abstract: Martin Heidegger describes technology in essence as the late modern Western understanding of Being which is planetary in its reach. Succeeding the long phase of colonialism after World War II, the history of the global spread of this understanding of Being is intertwined with the developmental and globalization eras in the Global South. Techno-capitalist development crowds out alternative forms of economic and social life, which have been meaningfully prevalent in the Global South. The monistic metaphysics that powers developmentalism makes alternatives impossible. However, alternative political possibilities still exist, which are post-metaphysical and post-techno-developmental. Such politics pays attention to the place, things and self that matters to human beings and opens up a space for resisting techno-developmentalism.

Fractal computer visualization in psychological research

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the issue of fractal computer visualization in the field of psychological research; it describes some features of visual information interaction between a person and the world. The present paper, part of the research project Personal Fractal, focuses on computer fractal images as a stimulus material for psychodiagnostic purposes. The study is based on a new understanding of scientificity and systematicity criteria in psychological science. We follow the principle of psychology approaching a person's daily life and the creative modern information experience. Participants' creativity was analyzed by means of fractal computer images. These images were found to possess a pronounced psychodiagnostic, psychocorrectional, and psychotherapeutic potential to be applied as an important methodological resource for psychological aid. The authors assume that the interplay between individualization and socialization can be interpreted in terms of the concept of fractality as a similarity of sociopsychological phenomena. The pilot study results are preceded by an extensive theoretical review reflecting historical and cultural aspects of the problem of fractal computer visualization.