Welcome to a Higher Seminar at Technology and Social Change titled 鈥�The moral limits of digitalisation 鈥� A sphere鈥慶entric theory of justice for the digital transition,鈥� with Tamar Sharon, Professor at Radboud University.
The seminar will be held in English and is open to all. No registration is required.
About the seminar
Societies worldwide are undergoing digital transitions. Digitalisation is expected to contribute to economic growth, sustainable infrastructures and societal wellbeing. In many public sectors this is leading to a 鈥渄igital first鈥� mindset. But public sector digitalisation brings with it important risks.
First, the growing dependency of society on services and infrastructure provided by Big Tech can lead to a loss of autonomy and democratic oversight of sectors responsible for the delivery of basic public goods, like healthcare, education and public services.
Second, the values that digitalisation brings with it, such as increased efficiency, convenience and personalisation, often conflict with the core values that have traditionally organised public sectors and that underpin notions of, e.g. good healthcare, good education and good public service. This can lead to a marginalisation of these values and a loss of integrity of public sectors. In this talk I propose a sphere-centric theory of justice that seeks to safeguard the autonomy and integrity of public sectors in the digital transition.
I explain how this theory overcomes some limitations in current dominant European responses to digital harms, such as digital sovereignty and a focus on public values, and suggest how the theory can be operationalised in regulation and professional guidelines.
About the speaker
Tamar Sharon is Professor of Philosophy, Digitalisation and Society at Radboud University in the Netherlands, where she co-directs the Interdisciplinary Hub for Digitalisation and Society (iHub). Tamar is a member of the European Commission鈥檚 European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and the Royal Netherlands Academy for Arts and Sciences.