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Information and Communication Society – Implications for Work, Social Relations, Governance and Control: Ethics in Cyberspace

In the early days of AI, Weizenbaum warned us against giving machines the responsibility for making genuinely human choices. Computer Power and Human Reason raised questions about the role of artificial intelligence and spurred debate about how man relies on technology in order to escape the burden of acting as an independent agent, and in deciding and pursuing what is truly valuable. These issues are becoming more and more urgent as technologies converge and become increasingly embedded and integrated in all facets of our lives. Cooley (2007) points out that technology in its multi-various forms is rapidly becoming all-pervasive. It permeates just about every aspect of what we do and what we are. It ranges from the gigantic, the diversion of rivers and the repositioning of mountains, to the microscopic level of genetic engineering. Science fiction becomes reality as faces are transplanted and head transplants are confidently predicted. In the age of mediating technologies, the spirit of Weizenbaum's ELIZA (1976) seems to be alive and well today when we observe proponents of pervasive and streaming technologies, including policy makers, managers and researchers, becoming increasingly seduced by the possibilities of mechanizing institutional and organizational functions and processes in the name of competitiveness, security, transparency and accountability.