Infraethics–on the conditions of possibility of morality

Luciano Floridi

pp. 391-394

in: Philosophy & Technology 30 (4), 2017.

Abstract

It is a sign of our times that, when politicians speak of infrastructure nowadays, they often have in mind information and communication technologies (ICTs). They are not wrong. From success in business to cyber-conflicts, what makes contemporary societies work depends increasingly on bits rather than atoms. Depending on their digital infrastructures, societies may grow and prosper. And it is their ICTs that often represent one of their weakest sides, in terms of cyber security. We know all this. What is less obvious, and philosophically more interesting, is that ICTs also seem to have unveiled a new sort of equation.