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“For a general audience, that is a very intuitive way to get into the topic. The novel I’ve chosen is very philosophical. It’s called Zed and it’s by Joanna Kavenna. I’m not sure if the author is a philosopher but if she’s not, she’s very philosophical. It’s a funny novel, that’s one of its virtues. But it’s very concerning at the same time. It’s about a big tech dystopia in which a company called Beetle has gained a lot of power and is led by a narcissistic CEO. It’s about how close this corporation becomes with the security services. What started as nudging—a notification that pushes you to stand up when you’ve been sitting down for a long time or to eat the right kinds of food—becomes seriously oppressive. It’s about how digital technologies can interact with society in a way that invites questions about what is fake and what is real. When you start experiencing reality through avatars, for instance, and through reports by companies, there are a lot of questions about whether this information can be trusted. The author plays with this duality of what is fake and what is real and also with self-fulfilling prophecies. How do we know what technology is doing? How do we check when there’s a mistake? How much transparency do people have?” Read more...
The best books on Digital Ethics
Carissa Véliz, Philosopher
