Nudging Choices Through Media: Ethical and philosophical implications for humanity

Description

This book addresses the growing use of computerized systems to influence people’s decisions without their awareness, a significant but underappreciated sea-change in the way the world works. To assess these systems, this volume’s contributors explore the philosophical and ethical dimensions of algorithms that guide people’s behavior by nudging them toward choices preferred by systems architects. Particularly in an era of heightened awareness of bias and discrimination, these systems raise profound concerns about the morality of such activities. This volume brings together a diverse array of thinkers to critically examine these nudging systems. Not only are high-level perspectives presented, but so too are of those who use them on a day-to-day basis. While algorithmic nudging can produce benefits for users there are also many less-obvious costs to using such systems, costs that require examination and deliberation. This book is a major step towards delineating these concerns and suggesting ways to provide a sounder basis for future policies for algorithms. It should be of interest to system designers, public policymakers, scholars, and those who wonder more deeply about the nudges they receive from various websites and on their phones. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures Introduction Organization of Book and Overview of Chapter Contents First Axis: Philosophy Jens Kipper Jos de Mul Sandra Laugier Juliet Floyd Second Axis: Praxis Stephan Wolfram Interview James Cummings Lei Guo James Katz & Elizabeth Crocker Thomas Beauvisage & Kevin Mellet Richard Harper Peppino Ortoleva Summary References Part I: First Axis: Philosophy Nudging and Freedom: Why Scale Matters Introduction Just a Nudge? Control as the Dependence of One’s Actions on Oneself, and On No-One Else How to Devise Effective Nudges Losing Control in a World of Large-Scale Nudges Conclusion References Metaphors We Nudge By: Reflections on the Impact of Predictive Algorithms on our Self-understanding Metaphors of the Human Information Processing Systems Databases Databasification of Human Life Weapons of Math Destruction Dehumanization by Malgorithm Nudging Metaphors References Can Nudges Be Democratic? Paternalism vs Perfectionism Nudges, Morality, and Conformity Who Nudges? The Ethical Problem Democracy and Education Defenses of Paternalism Consent to Nudging Viewers’ Competence and Moral Progress: Education Through TV Shows References Revisiting the Turing Test: Humans, Machines, and Phraseology Introduction: The Turing Test and Human Sociality Turing’s 1936 Model of Computation: Historical Backdrop, Contemporary Issues The Turing Test Revisited Turing’s Argument Objections to the Turing Test Summarized Conclusion References Part II: Second Axis: Praxis Interview with Stephen Wolfram Means vs. Outcomes: Leveraging Psychological Insights for Media-Based Behavior Change Interventions The Brave New World of Ubiquitous Sensing Technology Feedback Loops: An Old Idea with New Possibilities Grabbing Attention and Stirring Motivation in Users A Case Study on Sensors and Gamification: Power House Motivational Design: What Is the Goal and How Should We Get There? Gamification and Extrinsic Reinforcement Mediated Nudges New Media as Tools for Internalization Modeling Values, Not Measuring Behaviors Preserving and Leveraging What Makes Us Human References Nudging, Positive and Negative, on China’s Internet Nudging for “Positive” Study 1: The “Positive” WeChat (for Chinese Elderly) Study II: A National Survey About “Positive Energy” Implications and Contributions Concluding Remarks References Nudging Choices through Media: User Experiences and Their Ethical and Philosophical Implications for Humanity Introduction Attitudes Towards Nudging Self-Actualization: The Nudged Self Inadvertently Shaping the World and the User Via Algorithmic Nudges: Self-perceived Ethical Responsibility User Evaluation of Algorithmic Nudging: A Structural Analysis Conclusion References Building Compliance, Manufacturing Nudges: The Complicated Trade-offs of Advertising Professionals Facing the GDPR Introduction Our Approach Regulating Advertising Through Consent The Crafting of Consent Interfaces The Moral Embeddedness of Nudges Conclusion References The Emergence of the ‘Cy-Mind’ through Human-Computer Interaction Introduction Looking Back to What Has Become Users and WIMP Machines The User in a Nest of Meanings The World of Today The Dance of Interaction in the Age of AI The Language of Use The Pointer and the Individual Re-imagining the Pointer and the Individual The Individual and the Crowd Conclusion References Saying Things with Facts, Or—Sending Messages Through Regulation. The Indirect Power of Norms Introduction Doing and Saying The Role of Ambiguity The Power of Implicit Messages A Final Example: The Debate on Vaccination Laws Concluding Remarks References Conclusion: The Troubling Future of Nudging Choices Through Media for Humanity Cross-cutting Themes The Larger Environment: Societal Control Via Nudging in a Nation-wide Experiment It Can’t Happen Here, Until it Does Coda References Index