Luciano Floridi: "From Updating to Upgrading Modernity: New Ideas for the Digital Age"

Luciano Floridi »Thinking outside the box is an endeavor worthy of Münchhausen: as impossible as pulling oneself out of a mire by one’s own hair. There is nothing ›outside the box‹ and our Weltanschauung is inescapable. Yet, we can change the box. The necessity for such ›reboxing‹ becomes apparent when a revolution deeply reshapes reality, rendering previous ideas, conceptual frameworks, and cultural assumptions obsolete. Past modes of thinking can no longer be merely updated; they require a comprehensive upgrade. In this lecture, I argue that the digital revolution is so profound and significant that it is compelling us to upgrade our previous box and rethink some of modernity’s most fundamental ideas. I shall outline the reasons behind this ›reboxing‹ and explain it by analyzing three foundational concepts that require a new understanding for the twenty-first century: individual agency, artificial agency, and political agency. While acknowledging that many other concepts need to be upgraded, I shall emphasize the importance of starting with these three as a solid foundation for the digital age.«