Interesting thoughts! What you said about technological ethics being limited to avoiding harm reminds me of the Moral Foundations theory developed by Jonathan Heidt. His book, The Righteous Mind, goes into the theory in a popular readership form. As I recall, there were 6 moral foundations - like PCA basis functions - from which moral decisions were made. Harm was only one of these axes.
I do think the aversion to the notion of “flourishing” for a lot of us stems from how often that concept is wielded by tech leaders (and others) as a form of gaslighting when valid harms/ethics concerns are raised—and how oversaturated we have become with these promises without experiencing even a whiff of the results.
Not what you’re doing here, of course, but it was the first reflection that came to mind while reading this. Thanks for the thoughtful share!
Have you read Technology and the Virtues by Shannon Vallor? Almost exactly these points as well, highly recommend.
Not yet, but on my list! Hoping to read over winter break. Thanks for the recommendation!
Interesting thoughts! What you said about technological ethics being limited to avoiding harm reminds me of the Moral Foundations theory developed by Jonathan Heidt. His book, The Righteous Mind, goes into the theory in a popular readership form. As I recall, there were 6 moral foundations - like PCA basis functions - from which moral decisions were made. Harm was only one of these axes.
Thanks for the reminder about Haidt’s writing on this. I need to go back and re-read that section.
Really appreciate this reflection!
I do think the aversion to the notion of “flourishing” for a lot of us stems from how often that concept is wielded by tech leaders (and others) as a form of gaslighting when valid harms/ethics concerns are raised—and how oversaturated we have become with these promises without experiencing even a whiff of the results.
Not what you’re doing here, of course, but it was the first reflection that came to mind while reading this. Thanks for the thoughtful share!