The Ethics of Cyber-conflicts in Hyperhistorical Societies Luciano Floridi Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information
OUTLINE Battle of Heraclea (280 BC), Roman horsemen defeated by Pyrrhus twenty war elephants. Civil war, battle of Thapsus (46 BC), Julius Caesar s fifth legion armed with axes, ordered to strike at the legs of the enemy s elephants. The legion withstands the charge, the elephant becomes its symbol.
OUTLINE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions 2Enveloping the World 3Erasing the Boundaries 4Cyberspace? 5Infosphere 6Information Ethics as E-nvironmentalism
PREMISE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions a) Who should I be? (self-poietic) b) What is the right thing to do? (substantive) c) Why should I do it? (motivational)
OUTLINE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions 2Enveloping the World 3Erasing the Boundaries 4Cyberspace? 5Infosphere 6Information Ethics as E-nvironmentalism
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Those who live by the digit, die by the digit. No ICTs Individual and social well-being related to ICT Individual and social well-being dependent on ICT
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Three limits to the speed of growth of data: - thermodynamics - intelligence - memory.
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Acquisition/Storage Usability Security/Safety Accessibility Analytics Law/Ethics Costs
ENVELOPING THE WORLD In recent years, the world has been adapting to AI limited capacities increasingly well. Enveloping the world without fully realising it. In robotics, an envelope (also known as reach envelop) is the three-dimensional space that defines the boundaries that the robot can reach.
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Dishwasher vs. Humanoid Robot
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Past: enveloping a stand-alone phenomenon (e.g. factory). Future: enveloping the as an AI-friendly infosphere.
ENVELOPING THE WORLD reality and virtuality Ca. 20% of EU population used a laptop to access the internet, via wireless away from home or work.
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Robust, cumulative, progressively refining trend.
ENVELOPING THE WORLD Inside the computer Hacking the pacemaker Outside the computer
ENVELOPING THE WORLD 2010, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, commenting on Cyber Europe 2010, the first pan-european cyber-attack simulation: This exercise to test Europe's preparedness against cyber threats is an important first step towards working together to combat potential online threats to essential infrastructure and ensuring citizens and businesses feel safe and secure online.
OUTLINE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions 2Enveloping the World 3Erasing the Boundaries 4Cyberspace? 5Infosphere 6Information Ethics as E-nvironmentalism
ERASING THE BOUNDARIES 1the blurring of the distinction between reality and virtuality.
ERASING THE BOUNDARIES 1A 2the blurring of the distinctions between human, machine and nature.
OUTLINE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions 2Enveloping the World 3Erasing the Boundaries 4Cyberspace? 5Infosphere 6Information Ethics as E-nvironmentalism
INFOSPHERE Technology Cyber space Space Air Sea Land Time
CYBERSPACE? Risks Rights Responsibilities Space Cyber space Air Land Environments Sea
OUTLINE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions 2Enveloping the World 3Erasing the Boundaries 4Cyberspace? 5Infosphere 6Information Ethics as E-nvironmentalism
INFOSPHERE 1Technology progressively removes constraints around conflicts: when, where, who, how 2Cybernetics (robotics), the computer, the Internet: three technologies developed for military purposes during WWII and the Cold War. 3For the first time in history democratization of weapons.
INFOSPHERE Technology Cyber space Space Air Sea Land Time
INFOSPHERE 1Unification of strength and weakness:the digital is a weapon and a target. 2Combatant and non-combatant, what is and is not a battlefield, what is and is not a military target. 3New asymmetries between hyperhistorical and historical societies.
INFOSPHERE Risks Rights Responsibilities Land Sea Infosphere Air Space
INFOSPHERE 1What ethics for information conflicts? 2Information Ethics as e-nvironmental ethics. 3We must rethink the ethics of war in view of this major conceptual shift.
OUTLINE 1Premise: Three Ethical Questions 2Enveloping the World 3Erasing the Boundaries 4Cyberspace? 5Infosphere 6Information Ethics as E-nvironmentalism
ETHICS OF INFORMATION WARFARE 0. entropy ought not to be caused in the infosphere (null law) 1. entropy ought to be prevented in the infosphere 2. entropy ought to be removed from the infosphere 3. the flourishing of informational entities as well as of the whole infosphere ought to be promoted by preserving, cultivating, and enriching their wellbeing
The Ethics of Cyber-conflicts in Hyperhistorical Societies Luciano Floridi Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information SOURCES: this research is partly based on The Fourth Revolution How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality (Oxford University Press, June 2014). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: this research was supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship Grant (2010-2012) project on "The Ethics of Information Warfare: Risks, Rights and Responsibilities", Intra-European Fellowships (IEF), Call: FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF. I am very grateful to Mariarosaria Taddeo for having allowed me to use some of our research. COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Texts, marks, logos, names, graphics, images, photographs, illustrations, artwork, audio clips, video clips, and software copyrighted by their respective owners are used on these slides for non-commercial, educational and personal purposes only. Use of any copyrighted material is not authorized without the written consent of the copyright holder. Every effort has been made to respect the copyrights of other parties. If you believe that your copyright has been misused, please direct your correspondence to: luciano.floridi@oii.ox.ac.uk stating your position and I shall endeavour to correct any misuse.