# still to do - [x] still to do (tickbox) ✅ 2024-09-19 - [x] still to do (tickbox) ✅ 2024-09-19 - [x] still to do (tickbox) ✅ 2024-09-19 # Slides and Notes on the Freedom and Artifacts bit ### Slide 1: Freedom and Artifacts: The Modernist View - Modernist view: freedom as absence of external constraints - Autonomous human subjects vs. external technological influences - Technology perceived as potential threat to human freedom > "This question is only relevant, though, if freedom is understood as negative freedom, to use [[Isaiah Berlin]]'s concept: the absence of external influences (Berlin 1979)." ### Slide 2: Limitations of the Modernist View - Human existence deeply intertwined with technology - Modernist view of freedom insufficient in technological world - Need for relational understanding of freedom > "Such a conception of freedom is only meaningful if human beings are understood as autonomous subjects, living in a world of external objects. When human beings are understood in terms of their relations to the world, though, this concept of autonomy becomes too narrow." ### Slide 3: Positive Freedom and [[Technological Mediation]] - Positive freedom: ability to act according to one's goals and values - Technologies enable and expand human capabilities and opportunities - Freedom as navigating and shaping one's relationship with technology > "From this viewpoint, mediating technologies do not take away [[moral agency]], but rather are its basis. Obstetric ultrasound does not force parents to have an abortion when they are expecting a child with Down's syndrome; rather, their [[moral agency]] comes about in the way they develop a relation to obstetric ultrasound." ### Slide 4: Responsible Freedom in a Technological World - Recognizing [[technological mediation]] expands human responsibility - Reflexively and intentionally navigating technologically mediated world - Shaping our technologies and our relations to them > "Human beings are no helpless victims of mediating technologies. We can get actively involved in how these technologies have an impact on us. By critically examining how technologies help to shape situations of choice and frameworks of interpretation, it becomes possible to take responsibility for one's technologically mediated agency." ### Slide 5: Conclusion: Relational Freedom and [[Moral Agency]] - Relational view of freedom more empowering and responsible - Freedom as reflexive, intentional navigation of technologically mediated world - Basis for expanded [[moral agency]] and responsibility > "Far from giving up on human freedom, recognizing the [[technological mediation]] of agency actually expands the scope of human responsibility. It means that we are not only responsible for how we use technologies, but also for how we shape and design them to enable and expand human freedoms." ## [[Speaker Notes]]: ### Slide 1: - Introduce the traditional modernist view of freedom as the absence of external constraints. - Explain how [[this view]] is based on a sharp distinction between autonomous human subjects and external technological influences. - Note how, from this perspective, technology is often seen as a potential threat to human freedom, as it introduces external influences on human behavior. - Use the quote to highlight the connection to [[Isaiah Berlin]]'s concept of negative freedom. ### Slide 2: - Argue that the modernist view of freedom is insufficient in a world where human existence is deeply intertwined with technology. - Explain that if we understand human beings in relational terms, rather than as autonomous subjects separate from the world, the modernist concept of freedom becomes too narrow. - Suggest that we need a relational understanding of freedom that takes into account the co-constitution of humans and technologies. - Use the quote to support the argument that the modernist view is based on a problematic separation of subjects and objects. ### Slide 3: - Introduce [[Isaiah Berlin]]'s concept of positive freedom as an alternative to the modernist view. - Explain how positive freedom is about the ability to act according to one's own goals and values within a given context, rather than the absence of external influence. - Argue that, from this perspective, technologies do not necessarily limit human freedom but can actually enable and expand it by providing new capabilities and opportunities. - Use the quote about obstetric ultrasound to illustrate how freedom involves developing a relationship to technology, rather than being independent of it. ### Slide 4: - Argue that recognizing the [[technological mediation]] of human freedom and agency expands, rather than diminishes, human responsibility. - Explain that when we understand how technologies shape our field of possibilities, we can engage with them more reflexively and intentionally. - Emphasize that responsible freedom means [[actively shaping]] our technologies and our relations to them, rather than simply blaming technologies for negative outcomes or feeling helpless in the face of technological influence. - Use the quote to highlight [[the idea]] that we are not helpless victims of technology, but can actively shape our relationship to it. ### Slide 5: - Conclude by arguing that the relational view of freedom proposed in the text is more empowering and responsible than the modernist ideal of autonomy as independence from external influence. - Reiterate that this view understands freedom as the ability to reflexively and intentionally navigate the technologically mediated world. - Emphasize that this relational understanding of freedom provides a basis for expanded moral agency and responsibility in a world shaped by technology. - ## Speaker Notes for Latour bit Slide 1: Do Artifacts Have Agency? - Begin by posing the central question of whether technologies can be considered moral agents in the same way as human beings. - Note that while some scholars speak of technological agency, this doesn't mean they are attributing human-like agency to artifacts. - Rather, these scholars are proposing that we need to rethink the concept of agency itself, given the close interconnection between humans and technology in the modern world. - Traditional notions of agency as an intrinsic property of autonomous human subjects are insufficient to capture this reality. Slide 2: Latour's Symmetrical Approach - Introduce Bruno Latour's controversial 'symmetrical approach,' which rejects any a priori distinction between human and nonhuman actants. - Explain how Latour argues that nonhumans play a key role in shaping not just the material world, but also the social and moral world. - Use examples like speed bumps and door springs to illustrate how everyday objects can embody and enact moral norms. - Emphasize Latour's point that nonhumans are not just neutral tools or intermediaries for human purposes, but active mediators that shape human intentions and behaviors. Slide 3: Latour on Relational Agency - Explain Latour's view that agency is not an intrinsic property of any entity, but emerges from networks of relations between humans and nonhumans. - No entity, whether human or nonhuman, has agency in itself; agency is always a product of associations and networks. - This means that morality, too, is distributed across human-nonhuman networks, not localized in individual human subjects. - Raise the critical question: Does this relational view of agency imply a complete equivalence between human and nonhuman agency? This is where Verbeek's perspective comes in. Slide 4: Verbeek's Mediation Theory - Introduce Peter-Paul Verbeek's 'mediation theory' as a distinct perspective that, while sharing some similarities with Latour, maintains an important difference between human and technological agency. - Like Latour, Verbeek sees agency as emerging from human-technology interactions, rather than being an intrinsic property of either humans or technologies alone. - However, Verbeek argues that humans and technologies contribute to this interaction in qualitatively different ways: humans have intentionality and interpretive capacity, while technologies have material influence. - The resulting moral agency is thus hybrid and relational, but not symmetrical in the way Latour suggests. Slide 5: Verbeek on Technological Mediation - Explain Verbeek's key concept of technological mediation: technologies co-shape human moral perceptions, decisions, and actions. - This shaping is not a deterministic force, but rather structures the field of possibilities within which human moral agency operates. - Importantly, mediation is not just an intermediary between pre-existing human subjects and technological objects. - Rather, it is a constitutive relation that shapes both human subjectivity (how we perceive and interpret the world) and objectivity (how the world presents itself to us). Slide 6: Implications for Responsibility - Discuss how mediation theory expands the scope of moral consideration to include the role of technologies in shaping moral outcomes. - However, unlike some readings of Latour, it maintains a distinction between human and technological forms of agency. - This means that while technologies are morally significant, humans bear ultimate responsibility for the moral consequences of technology. - But this responsibility is not exercised in a vacuum: it is always mediated by the technologies we create and use. - Recognizing this mediation is key to exercising responsibility more reflexively and intentionally in the development and governance of technology. Slide 7: Conclusion: Rethinking Agency in a Technological World - Conclude by recapping how both Latour and Verbeek challenge traditional notions of agency as an intrinsic property of autonomous human subjects. - They reveal the inherently relational and technologically-mediated character of human agency in a world shaped by technology. - However, Verbeek's insistence on maintaining a distinction between human and technological forms of agency is crucial. - This distinction provides a basis for human responsibility in shaping the technologies that shape us, without falling into the trap of technological determinism. - End with an invitation to the audience to reflect on how this relational understanding of agency might change how we design, use, and govern technologies in pursuit of the good life. #### Main Topic 1 ##### Sub-topic #### Main Topic 2 ##### Sub-topic #### Main Topic 3 ##### Sub-topic #### Main Topic 4 ##### Sub-topic # In Class Notes - Social media platforms shape human perceptions, affects, and behaviors through their interfaces, algorithms, and information architectures - Algorithmic curation of content shapes user experiences, influencing exposure to information and potentially reinforcing or challenging existing beliefs and desires - Quantified interactions like likes, shares, and follower counts foster new forms of reflexive identity tied to metricized social status - Encourages strategic self-presentation and awareness of one's "performance" on the platform - Newsfeeds, trends, and targeted content create personalized information environments that can influence worldviews and shape user intentions - Interface features designed to drive engagement, such as infinite scroll and notifications, shape attentional patterns and habits of use - Mediates social relationships by enabling new norms and practices of interaction, connection, expression, and memory-making - Affords new possibilities for communication and sharing, but also for conflict and surveillance - Platforms' architectures and business models embody certain values and priorities, which may align or misalign with user interests in complex ways - Communication dynamics on social media are shaped by platform affordances, with implications for the tone and quality of public discourse - Individual intentions and behaviors are deeply entangled with platform architectures and design choices, reflecting a form of distributed agency - Social media plays an active role in co-constituting aspects of subjectivity and social reality, giving it moral and political significance - Users, designers, and policymakers jointly navigate the ethical implications of social media's mediating role and shape its ongoing development - Recognizing social media as an active mediator of human realities, not just a neutral tool, is key to addressing its societal impacts and governance