Category Archives: World

The Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism

March 2, 2021 humanistfreedoms

In a 2015 article on gartner.com, Christy Pettey wrote an important article titled Embracing Digital Humanism. The article states, ” By 2020, our planet will be home to 30 billion things with embedded intelligence combined with nearly 8 billion smart devices. That means by 2020, there will be a ratio of approximately six intelligent devices/things for every human on the planet. In a world of digital business, IT leaders will need to orchestrate all these new devices, new data streams and new experiences to create value. But what principles will these IT leaders apply? The emerging digital world requires human-centric digital leadership.” That last sentence is an important concept to have formulated and launched and bears significant attention and therefore repetition:

The emerging digital world requires human-centric digital leadership.

Pettey then continued by providing a definition of digital humanism as “the notion that people are the central focus in the manifestation of digital businesses and digital workplaces.” As we will see, the concept has broadened since 2015, but this was an important conceptual milestone for humanism and for humanity. For those interested in the ethical and philosophical advancement of humanist ideas, digital humanism is a significant developing field for exploration.

Before we get to the manifesto, let’s also detour to Martin Recke’s article on the NEXT website wherein Recke suggests that digital humanism “stands for the shift away from computer-literate people to people-literate technology.” Recke also provides some useful differentiation between digital humanism and digital humanities; the latter seems to be most easily reduced to humanities practiced and/or studied via digital technologies and media.

Recke finished his primer on digital humanism by writing “Seen this way, Digital Humanism refers to the age-old concern to put humankind, in all its aspects, at the centre of our work. The early, 14th century humanists started a cultural revolution that peaked in the Renaissance era. Maybe it is time for a new cultural revolution, a new Renaissance. Or is it already happening?“

Digital Humanism: Informatics in Times of COVID-19, one of Dighum’s many online seminars on their YouTube Channel.

And now we arrive a Vienna, May 2019 when the Vienna Manifesto for Digital Humanism was published. Below, we reproduce the manifesto as we found it on the Dighum website. The bolded text is original to the Dighum site while the underlined text is our emphasis.

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“The system is failing” – stated by the founder of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee – emphasizes that while digitalization opens unprecedented opportunities, it also raises serious concerns: the monopolization of the Web, the rise of extremist opinions and behavior orchestrated by social media, the formation of filter bubbles and echo chambers as islands of disjoint truths, the loss of privacy, and the spread of digital surveillance. Digital technologies are disrupting societies and questioning our understanding of what it means to be human. The stakes are high and the challenge of building a just and democratic society with humans at the center of technological progress needs to be addressed with determination as well as scientific ingenuity. Technological innovation demands social innovation, and social innovation requires broad societal engagement.

This manifesto is a call to deliberate and to act on current and future technological development. We encourage our academic communities, as well as industrial leaders, politicians, policy makers, and professional societies all around the globe, to actively participate in policy formation. Our demands are the result of an emerging process that unites scientists and practitioners across fields and topics, brought together by concerns and hopes for the future. We are aware of our joint responsibility for the current situation and the future – both as professionals and citizens.

Today, we experience the co-evolution of technology and humankind. The flood of data, algorithms, and computational power is disrupting the very fabric of society by changing human interactions, societal institutions, economies, and political structures. Science and the humanities are not exempt. This disruption simultaneously creates and threatens jobs, produces and destroys wealth, and improves and damages our ecology. It shifts power structures, thereby blurring the human and the machine.

Computer Scientists Create Most Accurate Digital Human ...

The quest is for enlightenment and humanism. The capability to automate human cognitive activities is a revolutionary aspect of computer science / informatics. For many tasks, machines surpass already what humans can accomplish in speed, precision, and even analytic deduction. The time is right to bring together humanistic ideals with critical thoughts about technological progress. We therefore link this manifesto to the intellectual tradition of humanism and similar movements striving for an enlightened humanity.

Like all technologies, digital technologies do not emerge from nowhere. They are shaped by implicit and explicit choices and thus incorporate a set of values, norms, economic interests, and assumptions about how the world around us is or should be. Many of these choices remain hidden in software programs implementing algorithms that remain invisible. In line with the renowned Vienna Circle and its contributions to modern thinking, we want to espouse critical rational reasoning and the interdisciplinarity needed to shape the future.

We must shape technologies in accordance with human values and needs, instead of allowing technologies to shape humans. Our task is not only to rein in the downsides of information and communication technologies, but to encourage human-centered innovation. We call for a Digital Humanism that describes, analyzes, and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind, for a better society and life, fully respecting universal human rights.

In conclusion, we proclaim the following core principles:

Digital technologies should be designed to promote democracy and inclusion. This will require special efforts to overcome current inequalities and to use the emancipatory potential of digital technologies to make our societies more inclusive.
Privacy and freedom of speech are essential values for democracy and should be at the center of our activities. Therefore, artifacts such as social media or online platforms need to be altered to better safeguard the free expression of opinion, the dissemination of information, and the protection of privacy.
Effective regulations, rules and laws, based on a broad public discourse, must be established. They should ensure prediction accuracy, fairness and equality, accountability, and transparency of software programs and algorithms.
Regulators need to intervene with tech monopolies. It is necessary to restore market competitiveness as tech monopolies concentrate market power and stifle innovation. Governments should not leave all decisions to markets.
Decisions with consequences that have the potential to affect individual or collective human rights must continue to be made by humans. Decision makers must be responsible and accountable for their decisions. Automated decision making systems should only support human decision making, not replace it.
Scientific approaches crossing different disciplines are a prerequisite for tackling the challenges ahead. Technological disciplines such as computer science / informatics must collaborate with social sciences, humanities, and other sciences, breaking disciplinary silos.
Universities are the place where new knowledge is produced and critical thought is cultivated. Hence, they have a special responsibility and have to be aware of that.
Academic and industrial researchers must engage openly with wider society and reflect upon their approaches. This needs to be embedded in the practice of producing new knowledge and technologies, while at the same time defending the freedom of thought and science.
Practitioners everywhere ought to acknowledge their shared responsibility for the impact of information technologies. They need to understand that no technology is neutral and be sensitized to see both potential benefits and possible downsides.
A vision is needed for new educational curricula, combining knowledge from the humanities, the social sciences, and engineering studies. In the age of automated decision making and AI, creativity and attention to human aspects are crucial to the education of future engineers and technologists.
Education on computer science / informatics and its societal impact must start as early as possible. Students should learn to combine information-technology skills with awareness of the ethical and societal issues at stake.

We are at a crossroads to the future; we must go into action and take the right direction!

Citations, References And Other Reading

The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.

Americas, Canada, World

Books: Tom Rand’s The Case For Climate Capitalism

August 19, 2020 humanistfreedoms

Tom Rand is on carbon mitigation venture capitalist, business-owner, author and speaker. He is Managing Partner of ArcTern Ventures and sits on the board of a number of clean energy companies and organizations. He also developed Planet Traveler, a low-carbon hotel project in downtown Toronto. His first book Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit (2010) was winner of the 2011 Whitepine Non-Fiction award; his second – Waking the Frog – became a bestseller in Spring 2014; his third – Climate Capitalism: Economic Solutions for a Planet in Crisis is out now.

And yeah, it is worth reading.

Particularly as federal elections in both Canada and the United States seem to be rapidly approaching. And particularly if you could benefit from a pragmatic, mostly-positive and capable exposition of the economics and politics of carbon pricing. It is in the title, after all – Climate Capitalism.

First, – about pragmatism. It is rare to see the word so fondly,

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deliberately and repeatedly used in books dealing with climate change, economics or politics. Perhaps it should not be a surprise since Rand holds a BSc in electrical engineering (U of Waterloo), an MSc in philosophy of science (University of London and LSE) and an MA and PhD in philosophy (U of Toronto). Rand is, no doubt, fully up-to-speed regarding the origins of pragmatism with Charles Sanders Peirce and all that this origin implies.

Indeed, Rand seems to be fully up-to-speed on all areas of the book: economics, climate science, politics, business ownership and being a thinking human faced with a planet with finite resources and a seriously-damaged environment. In the preface, Rand, a new father, states, “The prospect of hitting catastrophic tipping points in the next few decades bring more than sleepless nights – it makes having a kid a complex moral question. First, there’s the issue of bringing yet another person to our profligate emissions party. It’s uncomfortable (to put it mildly) to say climate change is as much a population issue as an environmental one. Having kids is no longer as morally benign – or even good – as it was in previous generations.“

Rand’s thesis is that carbon pricing is a good thing. That the planet needs it. And even if – all of us from economists and politicians and from billionaires to minimum-wage earners – we manage to take the pragmatic step of implementing sensible carbon pricing strategies, humans are still in for some tough environmental situations in the future. That sounds a bit glum – but the book’s subtitle is Economic Solutions for a Planet in Crisis. Rand delivers information that can be put to use now and in the near-future. Overall, Rand’s 200+ page book comes across as having an appropriate attitude.

Not coincidentally, having the an appropriate attitude is a perspective that Rand seems to want to recommend. Addressing climate change, and we might emphasize global population issues, are an issue of attitude. Rand’s book approaches the topic with a pragmatic, solutions-oriented and appropriate attitude. Rand says that climate capitalism is “about coordinating an accelerated response across the globe. How we might move from the level of independent (often bickering) sovereign political entities to something larger…” Note that Rand includes individuals in his consideration of “sovereign political entities” and sovereignty which he defines as making one’s own rules in one’s own interests.

Recommended Soundtrack for this post and reading Tom Rand’s The Case For Climate Capitalism.

Wondering about politicians who may be open to investigating solutions to a planet in crisis? Have a look at our page on Andrew West – one of several contenders for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada in 2020.

Citations and References

The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.

Featured Photo Courtesy of https://www.tomrand.net/

Uncategorized, World

Philosophy Now Issue 138: The Religion & Society Issue

June 6, 2020 humanistfreedoms

Issue 138 of Philosophy Now (June/July 2020) bears the bold sub-title: The Religion & Society Issue. While it was Robert Griffith’s article entitled “Beyond Humanism?” that first caught our attention, the issue’s Table of Contents offers a number of great articles, including a feature section on religion and secularism. The periodical’s website appears to allow complimentary viewing of up to four articles per month – so select carefully! Or subscribe and enjoy some interesting reading. Here are a few of our favorites:

Einstein & The Rebbe

Ronald Pies sets up a dialogue between science and religion.

Christianity & Homosexuality

Rick Aaron argues that religious recommendations are sometimes unrealistic.

Beyond Humanism?

Robert Griffiths argues that humanist ethics has significant limitations.

Suffering & the Media

Ian Church queries the influence the media has on our perception of evil.

Buddha Travels West

Peter Abbs follows Buddhism’s path towards becoming a Western humanism.

Philosophy & The Creation of the Individual

Mark Vernon chronicles a revolution in consciousness.

The Character Gap by Christian B. Miller

Massimo Pigliucci is frank about human character.

Visit the Philosophy Now website.

Featured Image courtesy of Philosophy Now.

World

FILM: Planet of the Humans

April 30, 2020 humanistfreedoms

NEW YORK (Tuesday, April 21, 2020) – Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Michael Moore announced today that he is releasing a brand new documentary film on his RUMBLE Media label – and is offering it as a gift, free of charge, in the midst of the global pandemic.

On Tuesday, April 21st, beginning at 9:00 am EDT, Planet of the Humans, directed by filmmaker and environmentalist Jeff Gibbs, will make its world premiere on Michael Moore’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/MMFlint (direct link to the full film on Moore’s page). Moore is scheduled to be the main guest on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night to make his first appearance for the film.

There will be a live event Wednesday evening, April 22nd at 10:00 pm EDT / 7:00 pm PDT featuring a live discussion and Q&A with Moore & Gibbs and viewers from around the world across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram Live and Twitter.

Released on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Planet of the Humans takes a harsh look at how the environmental movement has lost the battle through well-meaning but disastrous choices, including the belief that solar panels and windmills would save us, and by giving in to the corporate interests of Wall Street.

The film is the debut movie from Jeff Gibbs, whom Moore calls “a brave and brilliant filmmaker whose new voice must be heard.” Gibbs is a lifelong environmentalist and longtime collaborator of Moore’s with whom he co-produced Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11. Planet of the Humans first screened as a work in progress at the most recent Traverse City Film Festival where it was a huge audience favorite.

Moore and Gibbs decided that with the American public – and much of the world – confined to their homes and suddenly having to consider the role humans and their behavior have played in our fragile ecosystems, the moment was too urgent to wait until later this year for the film’s planned release.

“We have ignored the warnings, and instead all sorts of so-called leaders have steered us away from the real solutions that might save us,” says Moore, who holds the all-time box office record for documentaries. “This movie takes no prisoners and exposes the truth about how we have been led astray in the fight to save the planet, to the point where if we don’t reverse course right now, events like the current pandemic will become numerous, devastating and insurmountable. The feel-good experience of this movie is that we actually have the smarts and the will to not let this happen – but only if we immediately launch a new environmental uprising.”

Jeff Gibbs, the writer/editor/director of Planet of the Humans, has dared to say what no one will – that “we are losing the battle to stop climate change because we are following environmental leaders, many of whom are well-intentioned, but who’ve sold out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America.” This film is the wake-up call to the reality which we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the so-called “environmental movement’s” answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. “It’s too little, too late,” says Gibbs. “Removed from the debate is the only thing that might save us: getting a grip on our out-of-control human presence and consumption. Why is this not the issue? Because that would be bad for profits, bad for business.”

“Have we environmentalists fallen for illusions, ‘green’ illusions, that are anything but green, because we’re scared that this is the end — and we’ve pinned all our hopes on things like solar panels and wind turbines? No amount of batteries are going to save us, and that is the urgent warning of this film.”

This compelling, must-see movie – a full-frontal assault on our sacred cows – is guaranteed to generate anger, debate, and, hopefully, a willingness to see our survival in a new way—before it’s too late.

Planet of the Humans, which will be available for free on YouTube for the next 30 days,becomes the first documentary project to be released under the Rumble Media banner, and represents Rumble’s first venture with YouTube. Rumble Media launched in December of 2019 with the podcast, “RUMBLE with Michael Moore.” The podcast has now amassed more than 9 million downloads in its first four months.

More information about the film is available at www.planetofthehumans.com.