Ethics in the digital era
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Ethics are an ancient matter for human kind, from the origin of civilizations ethics have been related with the most relevant human concerns and determined human behavior. Ethics, initially, and for a long time, were closely related with religion and politics and more recently focused on specific disciplines and communities of practice. The undergoing digital revolution enabled by Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are bringing ethical wicked problems in the social application of these technologies. However, a broader perspective is also necessary. We now face global challenges that cannot be reduced to individual-oriented solutions. Thus, ethics have to consider the several scales in which the current complex society is organized. Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies are global and make humans more connected and smart but also more homogeneous, predictable and ultimately controllable. Ethics must take a position to preserve and keep promoting individuality and cultural heterogeneity. The digital revolution is being an industry-driven movement. It is necessary to establish mechanisms to ensure that the society becomes conscious about its own future. Finally, Artificial Intelligence has advanced through the ambition to humanize matter, so we should expect ethics to give a response to the future status of machines and their interactions with humans.
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