Some Ethical Consequences of Global Information

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Some Ethical Consequences of Global
Information Departmental Seminar OUCL
University of Oxford
luciano.floridi_at_philosophy.oxford.ac.ukwww.wolfso
n.ox.ac.uk/floridi/
Oxford 24 February, 2006
Luciano Floridi Dipartimento di Scienze
Filosofiche Università degli Studi di
Bari Faculty of Philosophy IEG Computing
LaboratoryUniversity of Oxford
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Summary

1. Modelling Moral Interactions with Information
2. Good Will, Power and Information
3. Moral Action and the Nature of the Tragic
4. The Tragic and the Scandalous
5. Cassandras Predicament
6. The IT-heodicean Problem and Oedipus Predicament
7. Augmented Responsibility
8. Escaping the Tragic Condition
9. The Wrong Approach Super Ethics
10. The Right Approach Augmented Ethics

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The Growth of Information
N. Wiener, Some moral and technical consequences
of automation, Science, 131, 1960. Arthur L.
Samuel, Some moral and technical consequences of
automation A refutation, Science, 132,
1960. The information revolution has been
changing the world profoundly, irreversibly and
problematically for some time now, at a
breathtaking pace and with an unprecedented
scope. Every year, the world produces between 1
and 2 exabytes of data, that is, roughly 250
megabytes for every human being on earth. An
exabyte is approximately 20 billion volumes. It
has taken the entire history of humanity to
accumulate 12 exabytes of data. Stored on floppy
disks, 12 exabytes of data would form a stack 24
million miles high. At the rate of growth
measured in 1999, humanity will already have
created the next 12 exabytes by 2005.
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The Flow of Information
To cope with exabytes of data, hundreds of
millions of computing machines are employed every
day. In 2001, the number of PCs in use worldwide
reached 600M units (source Computer Industry
Almanac Inc. http//www.c-i-a.com/pr0302.htm, see
Table 2). By the end of 2007, this number will
have nearly doubled to over 1.15B PCs, at a
compound annual growth of 11.4. Of course, PCs
are among the greatest sources of further
exabytes.
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Example the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)

• The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - CERN
• a circular structure 17 miles in circumference
• will produce about 1.5GB data/sec
• 10 petabytes of data annually, 1,000 times
  bigger than the Library of Congress' print
  collection
• the data flows will likely begin in 2008
• a grid using 100,000 CPUs

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The informational analysis of moral dynamics
Any action, whether morally loaded or not, has
the logical structure of a variably interactive
process relating one or more sources, the agent
A, with one or more destinations, the patient P.
The agent initiates the process and the patient
reacts more or less interactively to it. Once A
and B are interpreted, their analysis depends on
the level of abstraction (LoA) adopted and the
corresponding set of observables available at
that level. A moral action as a dynamic system
arises out of the interaction of seven principal
components 1) the agent, 2) the patient, 3)
their interactions, 4) the agents general frame
of information, 5) the factual information
concerning the situation that is at least partly
available to the agent, 6) the specific
situation in which the interaction occurs, and
finally 7) the general environment in which the
agent and the patient are located.
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The informational model of moral dynamics
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Ethics and the Lack of Pragmatic Omnipotence
Ethics moral action cannot presuppose pragmatic
omnipotence, so Good Will assumed constant,
i.e. good intention (Eudokia, Luke 214), bears
the moral value. It is the attitude/readiness to
implement whatever course is morally best.
Problem (not discussed) weakness of the will. We
shall assume the absence of Akrasia. Power
variable but usually limited. The
skills/resources/means to implement a Good Will.
Information variable but usually more
extended than Power. Hypothesis when there is a
lack of balance between Power and Information in
the presence of Good Will to act morally, we have
the tragic. That is Good Will Power
Information unbalanced tragic
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The Tragic

• Is the Tragic avoidable?
• Recall Good Will Power Information
  unbalanced the tragic.
• Eliminate the Good Will
• The lack of any good will and the amoral agent
• The value of the good will and Christianity
• Modify Power until it balances Good Will and
  Information
• Sharing good will and information increases power
• Modify Information until it balances Good Will
  and Power
• Paradox the will/desire not to know. It is only
  the Good Will that wishes not to be informed.
• Problem information increase is inevitable
• Meta-information
• Nothing can be done, the tragic is unavoidable.

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Information without Power or Good Will
Lucretius De Rerum Natura, Book II, Proem 'Tis
sweet, when, down the mighty main, the winds Roll
up its waste of waters, from the land To watch
another's labouring anguish far, Not that we
joyously delight that man Should thus be smitten,
but because 'tis sweet To mark what evils we
ourselves be spared 'Tis sweet, again, to view
the mighty strife Of armies embattled yonder o'er
the plains, Ourselves no sharers in the peril
but naught There is more goodly than to hold the
high Serene plateaus, well fortressed by the
wise, Whence thou may'st look below on other
men And see them ev'rywhere wand'ring, all
dispersed In their lone seeking for the road of
life Rivals in genius, or emulous in
rank, Pressing through days and nights with
hugest toil For summits of power and mastery of
the world.
Lucretius De Rerum Natura, Libro II,
Proemio Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora
ventis e terra magnum alterius spectare
laborem non quia vexari quemquamst iucunda
voluptas, sed quibus ipse malis careas quia
cernere suavest. suave etiam belli certamina
magna tueri per campos instructa
tua sine parte pericli sed nihil
dulcius est, bene quam munita tenere
edita doctrina sapientum templa
serena, despicere unde queas alios passimque
videre errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae,
certare ingenio, contendere
nobilitate, noctes atque dies niti praestante
labore ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri.
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Good Will without Sufficient Power or Information
Shaekespeare, The Tempest, Act I, Scene
II Miranda If by your art, my dearest father,
you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay
them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking
pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's
cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have
suffered With those that I saw suffer a brave
vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in
her, Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did
knock Against my very heart. Poor souls, they
perish'd. Had I been any god of power, I
would Have sunk the sea within the earth or
ere It should the good ship so have swallow'd
and The fraughting souls within her.
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The Risk of the Tragic and the Scandalous
The tragic emerges from a lack of balance between
good will, power and information. The risk of the
tragic is constantly present. It is a twofold
risk Oedipus Good Will Sufficient Power
Insufficient information Cassandra Good Will
Insufficient Power Sufficient
information Oedipus actions (killing his father
and marrying his mother) are the most scandalous
to the observers, why? The scandalous is how the
tragic is perceived by the observers of the
tragic. The scandalous sets a bad example, not in
the sense that anyone will necessarily follow it,
but in the sense that it shows to the observers
the ultimate failure of goodness (the good will).
Lack of action may be as scandalous as positive
action.
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Cassandras Predicament and the Scandalous
The ICT revolution has brought a new lack of
balance between Power and Information. Our power
does not match our information, so our current
situation is increasingly tragic Good Will
Insufficient Power Sufficient Information We
are giving scandal by our incapacity to implement
our well-informed Good Will, this is our
Cassandras predicament.
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I have suffered with those that I saw suffer
From The Economist, The next big wave, Aug 14th
2003 in the western Pacific . Since 1990,
ten big tsunamis have claimed more than 4,000
lives. So it would be nice to be able to detect
such tsunamis far enough in advance for people to
be evacuated. What is needed are specific
detectors that take advantage of the fact that
tsunamis are felt throughout the ocean's depths,
unlike wind-generated waves, which affect only
its surface. The article continued discussing
several technologies and techniques to detect,
analyse, classify and predict tsunamis. It
concluded Technology, though, can do only so
much. . As with any hazard, the more informed
the public are, the better their chances of
survival. December 26, 2004 a tsunamis kills
approximately 275,000 people
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The IT-heodicean Problem
Pompey AD 79
Theodicean Problem The Presence of Natural
Evil Who (God?) is God responsible for whatever
evil human beings do not initiate and cannot
prevent, defuse or control? IT-heodicean Problem
The Erosion of Natural Evil Science and ICT
gradually transform Natural evil into Moral evil,
making humanity increasingly accountable, morally
speaking, for the way the world is. Who is
responsible for natural evil? Witchcraft in
theory and sci-tech in practice share the
responsibility of transforming natural into moral
evil. This is why their masters often look
morally suspicious. Through history, evil
becomes an internal problem. This is our
Oedipus predicament had we had more or better
information, evil might have been prevented.
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Augmented Responsibility
CP) Cassandras predicament information about
actual evil puts pressure on the Good Will and
its insufficient Power to deal with it
successfully. We see evil but we cannot do
anything about it. Like Miranda, we wish we were
omnipotent. OP) Oedipus predicament (the
IT-heodicaean problem) increasing ways to
prevent, defuse or control future evil put
pressure on the Good Will and its insufficient
information. We could do something about evil,
but we do not see it. Like Oedipus, when evil
occurs, we can only blame ourselves, for had we
been better informed, evil might have been
avoidable. (CP) (OP) Tragic ? Augmented
Responsibility Look you now, how ready mortals
are to blame the gods. It is from us, they say,
that evils come, but they even of themselves,
through their own blind folly, have sorrows
beyond that which is ordained. Homer, Odyssey,
I.30-35 Man's responsibility increases as that
of the gods decreases. André Gide
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Escaping the Tragic Condition

• Problem Are the Tragic and hence the Scandalous
  avoidable?
• Recall Good Will Power Information
  unbalanced the tragic.
• How can we escape the twofold predicament?
• Four (mutually compatible) answers
• The gap information/power will decrease as
  information has already reached its peak, whereas
  power is catching up.
• From quantity to quality of information agents
  better informed can act and exercise their
  augmented power better.
• From powerless observation of the agent to
  empowered interaction of multiagent systems
  global problems require global agents.
• The ontological side of information the need for
  an augmented ethics.

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1. The information/power gap
The proportion of people living in extreme
poverty (less than 1 a day) in developing
countries dropped by almost half between 1981 and
2001, from 40 to 21 percent of global population
(source World Bank April 23, 2004). The Bank's
annual statistical report, World Development
Indicators 2004 (WDI), shows a drop in the
absolute number of people living on less than 1
a day in all developing countries from 1.5
billion in 1981, to 1.1 billion in 2001, with
much of the progress occurring in the 1980s.
Between 1990 and 2001, the global decline in the
number of extremely poor people slowed somewhat,
falling by about 120 millionfrom 1.2 billion to
1.1 billion peoplewhile the proportion of poor
people dropped from 28 percent to 21 percent of
the total population.
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2. Better information
More power requires more or less
information? More information? yes ? more
control ? more competition ? more choice
(no censorship) Less information? yes ? more
fairness (no bias) ? more privacy ?
more secrecy/security Problems unqualified (what
information?), not circumstantiated (for whom?
Under which conditions? For what purpose?) More
quality information - more feedback how the
agent efforts and resources are affecting
reality. - more transparency information
constrains misbehaviour - more
forecasting information is prevention - more
engineering information as building
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3. Global Agents

• The need for an ethics of artificial agents
  non-human (built) and social (e.g. groups,
  organizations, institutions) agents.
• Problem of Good Will and Levels of Agenthood
  Good Will is a property of single agents that is
  not necessarily inherited by their Set.
• Four pressing issues
• Conceptual analysis to understand artificial
  agents better.
• How moral artificial agents may be built.
• How artificial agents may be morally educated.
• How artificial agents may be controlled.

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4. Augmented Ethics Super Ethics?
ICT is a matter of DUMB strategies Doing
Understanding More Better. DUMB strategies
transform man into superman. Superman has
super-responsibilities. So ICT requires a
super-ethics. Problem SE is supererogatory as it
requires super-heroes. Mistake ICT is not just a
matter of DUMB strategies but it also has an
essentially ontic impact. It radically transforms
old realities and creates entirely new ones.
Because of its ontic impact, ICT requires an
Augmented Ethics for the whole of humanity not
for individual super-heroes.
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4. Augmented Ethics Achievable Goals
What would be the best ways to spend additional
resources on helping the developing
countries? Resources are scarce and difficult
choices among good ideas therefore have to be
made. How should a limited amount of new money
for development initiatives, say an extra 50
billion, be spent? Would it be possible to reach
agreement on what should be done first? In
2004, the Copenhagen Consensus project attempted
to set priorities among a range of ideas for
improving the lives of people living in
developing countries on the basis of a
cost-benefit analysis. Ten global challenges
were chosen Civil conflicts, Climate change,
Communicable diseases, Education, Financial
stability, Governance, Hunger and malnutrition,
Migration, Trade reform, Water and sanitation.
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4. Augmented Ethics Achievable Goals
The panel rated all four top proposals very
good, as measured by the ratio of social benefit
to cost. In fact, by the ordinary standards of
project appraisal, they are not just very good
but extraordinarily good, with benefits exceeding
costs by a factor of ten or more, and sometimes
much more. That proposals this good should fail
to be adopted for lack of finance is a scandal,
especially when you reflect on some of the
projects that governments are currently
financing. The bottom of the list, however,
aroused more in the way of hostile comment. Rated
bad, meaning that costs were thought to exceed
benefits, were all three of the schemes put
before the panel for mitigating climate change,
including the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse-gas
emissions. With something close to unanimity,
the panel put measures to restrict the spread of
HIV/AIDS at the top of the ranking.
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4. The Right Approach Augmented Ethics
Augmented Ethics the ethics of a Demiurge
(Plato, Thimaeus) The augmented ethics required
by our augmented information is the ethics of
creators and not mere end-users of
reality. Humanity is increasingly morally
responsible for designing and implementing the
world the way it is. The moral question
concerning human responsibility is how can we
as humanity act as good demiurges? Human
Augmented Responsibility requires an ecological
approach to the whole reality, an Augmented
Ethics.
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Some Ethical Consequences of Global
Information Departmental Seminar - OUCL
luciano.floridi_at_philosophy.oxford.ac.ukwww.wolfso
n.ox.ac.uk/floridi/
Oxford 24 February, 2006
Luciano Floridi Dipartimento di Scienze
Filosofiche Università degli Studi di
Bari Faculty of Philosophy IEG Computing
LaboratoryUniversity of Oxford