Author: ВОРОБЬЁВ АНДРЕЙ ДЕНИСОВИЧ | GORRIOV ANDREY
Introduction Modern society is undergoing a digital transformation, which involves not only the digitalization of the economy, but also a fundamental change in ideas about man and society. The scale of these changes has yet to be assessed, however, social, philosophical-anthropological, moral and cultural forecasts of the future are already being given in modern philosophical literature (N. Bostrom's theory of existential risks, L. Floridi's concept of information society, etc.). Basically, the assessment of the ongoing transformations takes place in the context of the philosophy of transhumanism, which involves the active development of the latest technologies. At the same time, technological progress creates urgent moral dilemmas that reveal the specific risks of future changes. Concretization and comprehension of such dilemmas become especially relevant in the context of the rapid development of new technologies, the consequences of which seem risky even for the developers themselves [9].
The aim of the study is to model the most important moral dilemmas of the fourth Industrial Revolution. In this regard, the study sets the following tasks:
1) Identify the trends of the fourth Industrial Revolution;
2) To characterize the digital economy and its impact on the transformation of society;
3) Construct moral dilemmas by showing the ethical contradictions of the technocratic future for man.
4) Suggest possible solutions to dilemmas
The scientific novelty of the research lies in a holistic ethical and philosophical approach to assessing the prospects of the fourth industrial revolution and predicting its consequences. As a result, a number of moral dilemmas are formulated that reveal the existential risks of the future, and an ethical and axiological algorithm for their resolution is proposed.
1. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, digitalization and the problem of morality.
The XXI century is marked by mass digitalization, computerization, automation of production, etc. Speaking about the prospects of the human future, we will analyze the consequences of technology development from an ethical and philosophical point of view. The digital society shapes and dictates social trends and lifestyle. Therefore, let's turn to this concept: A digital or information society is a society in which the majority of workers are engaged in the production, storage, processing and sale of information, especially its highest form – knowledge[10].
At the moment, a digital society is being formed, in which the economy, education, communications, culture, science, morality and even religions are being transformed. New philosophical ideas about society and man are emerging. Thus, the famous philosopher L. Floridi speaks about the formation of the infosphere; this term includes ideas about society not as a set of social relations, but as a new information space, the agents of which are all information units, not just a person, which implies a fundamentally new approach to the concept of a person (instead of which the philosopher introduces the term "inforg"), and, at the same time, other concepts of morality, death and life[3]. The philosopher N. Bostrom writes that the priority is to preserve a reasonable form of life, moreover, intelligent life can mean artificial intelligence, which should have the same rights as a reasonable person[2]. In general, such ideas are characteristic of the philosophy of transhumanism, the purpose of which is to improve a person, prolong life, transform the human body using the latest technologies, and actively develop technologies[8].
It is obvious that transhumanism is the ideological basis of the fourth industrial revolution. Nevertheless, despite the seemingly ethically justified goal, there are the following doubts about the safety of the ongoing processes:
1. The transhumanist worldview underlying modern technological progress has no alternative at the moment
2. Transhumanistic values and principles form the ethical and legal basis of new technologies
3. The consequences of the introduction of the digital economy are questionable from the point of view of morality
2. The digital economy in a digital society
Digital economy (web, Internet economy, electronic economy) is an economic activity carried out using electronic networks (digital telecommunications) related to electronic business and e-commerce, and digital goods and services produced and marketed by them. Payments for services and goods of the digital economy are often made in digital currency [6]. This model represents the digitalization of industries and, in general, all spheres of people's lives. So digital currencies and cryptocurrencies are becoming popular today, and the governments of some countries are even legalizing them. A person who is in such an economic system will, as it were, move from the usual material space to the virtual one.
For example, Klaus Schwab, one of the main ideologists of digitalization, offers the whole world the concept of the fourth industrial revolution, which, in his opinion, will be unprecedented for human history [7]. But are there any threats of technological progress to society in such a system? There is quite a lot of debate about this, since one part of society is an unconditional supporter of technocracy, while the other is wary of the onset of a digital society. And this creates a number of moral dilemmas for society.
3. The moral dilemmas of the digital society
A moral dilemma is a hypothetical conflict situation where the participant in the experiment, who presents himself as the main character, must choose one of the possible options for action. The solution to such a dilemma is associated with a difficult moral choice [4]. In philosophical literature, the dilemmas of digitalization concern two aspects: 1) freedom and coercion in relation to digitalization (is universal digitalization coercion? Will those people who refuse to accept digitalization fall out of society? Does digitalization give priority to people and states?); 2) The limits of technology power (how much power can technology give? Can technology control people? Will the one who controls technology control the world?).
1) Digitalization makes human life easier and freer - Artificial intelligence takes away personal freedom from a person.
Ubiquitous digitalization and AI form a dilemma about human free will in such a future, since he may be limited in his rights and freedoms by the framework of digital control. Today, facial scanning, biometric, and digital databases of millions of users have become increasingly used. This makes a person more vulnerable, because personal data may be leaked to the global Internet, or governments may impose stricter control and censorship within the framework of cyber security. Such trends can lead to the transformation of political regimes and the onset of digital totalitarianism. A similar image of the future is depicted in the Japanese anime series "Psychopassport". We are shown a bright technological future for Japan, which is actually a dystopia. With the development of technology, people have developed the Sibyl artificial intelligence system, which has been entrusted with making decisions about national security and the future. This system determined the abilities and mental indicators of a person. Every citizen has a psychopassport, which measures the crime rate, with an increase in which a person was subject to destruction, as he posed a threat to society as a potential criminal. The crime rate in Japan has decreased, but at what cost? To a greater extent, such a society is unfair and unfree and would eventually fail. But at the same time, digitalization and AI simplify people's lives. It helps to reduce people's time when shopping, processing documents, obtaining certificates, and generally reduces the administrative and bureaucratic burden. The introduction of artificial intelligence into medicine helps to carry out complex operations.
2) Robotization will free a person from monotonous work – A robotic economy will create socio-economic problems for society.
Also, the fourth industrial revolution involves the displacement of human and machine labor by robots. But what can it lead to? On the one hand, this leads to a global restructuring of the economic formation – the transition to the so-called post-labor society. Post-labor society, a concept characterizing the possible overcoming of the labor-centricity of modern society (labor society), which is in conflict with the development of labor-saving technologies, automation and robotization of production, as well as moral criticism of the narrow productivist understanding of human activity [5]. The social life of a person in such a world should theoretically become more free in all respects: he will have more time for creativity and self-development and entertainment. For the production itself, this will mean increased productivity, lower costs and overcoming overproduction crises. But on the other hand, the introduction of robotics can simply cause an imbalance and destruction of the economy, since in the beginning, it will create huge masses of unemployed due to the fact that a number of professions will simply disappear. Mass unemployment will cause a severe crisis on a global scale. A possible scenario for a robotic future was presented by the Sber ai team. The presentation became quite loud and caused a strong reaction on social networks[1].
Possible ways to solve the problems of digitalization
The identification of ethical problems of digitalization and their formulation in the form of dilemmas make it possible to:
- Actualize the most significant problems
- Show the pros and cons of the situation
- Identify alternative ways of making decisions
-To conduct a comparative analysis of the opposite solutions.
In our opinion, the following steps are necessary to resolve the dilemmas:
- The very formulation of dilemmas and their public discussion
- Humanitarian examination of the dilemmas of digitalization. In fact, an institute of humanitarian expertise is needed, where dilemma situations will be comprehensively considered by specialists in the fields of economics, sociology, law, psychology and philosophy
- The humanitarian and philosophical assessment of dilemmas should include an ethical and axiological analysis of the consequences of possible solutions, which will be carried out by means of applied and professional ethics and axiological monitoring.
- axiological monitoring (values research) will help to understand the value transformations taking place in a digital society, to develop ethical algorithms that will form the basis of artificial intelligence programs.
Since modern methods of applied ethics are a means of preventing ethical problems, their use in the humanitarian expertise system can become an effective way to prevent the existential risks of artificial intelligence and help in controlling the processes of digitalization and solving the dilemmas of the 4th industrial revolution.
Summing up the results of our work, we can say that by the year 2100, the life of mankind will change dramatically. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will continue and will become a challenge for us, and possibly a disaster for the human race, if we do not pursue a more balanced policy regarding digitalization and the norms of a digital society. The main threats to digitalization that we have identified in the course of our work are the loss of personal freedom of a person and the economic insecurity of people in a digital society. Therefore, such a society of the future will need to regulate digital social norms through digital laws and codes that protect individual rights. It can be concluded that ethics and ethical concepts will be transformed in the digital space.