Education and Algorithms – where to? Some Ethical Issues of concern Cover Image

Educația și algoritmii – încotro? Câteva aspecte etice îngrijorătoare
Education and Algorithms – where to? Some Ethical Issues of concern

Author(s): Zeno Gozo
Subject(s): Educational Psychology, Pedagogy
Published by: Editura Pro Universitaria
Keywords: Algorithmization; Ethics; Psychological; Nudge; Anthropological;

Summary/Abstract: School and education in general are confused, lost somewhere between the excesses and perversions of laissez-faire democracy coupled with the après nous le déluge philosophy of libertine consumerism. Such manifestations are, unmistakable evidence of neoliberalism. Our great moral-axiological benchmarks, the voice of authority, respect for the specialist or reverence for the professional found themselves set aside by the postmodern spirit – the "anything goes" philosophy – to which we all obey as a fashion or a universal trend. Unfortunately, such fashion leaves deep traces in our very human evolution which is called into question by the latest developments, tendencies or trends. The positioning of the human being – as the crown of evolution –, although exaggerated by its excessive anthropocentrism, is challenged by the current evolution of machines and computers – faster, more efficient and infinitely more unpretentious. In this paper we want to review at least some aspects of the general field of education, understood as influencing and manipulation, aspects that point, if we squint a little beyond the immediate present, to the worrying destinations, worrying both from an ethical point of view and from a broader anthropological or ontological perspective. It seems that the human being ends up being "raised" or "educated" to "serve" the algorithms of the machine, be it a robot or a computer. From an ethical point of view, this should give us something to think about in the most serious way possible. From this perspective, the present paper is meant to be an alarm that invites, at least, to some fundamental moral inquiries and reflections regarding the question: "What should I do?". We believe that ethics – given its orientative mission and its teleological "regard" – is able to offer us at least some markers to navigate through the thicket of equivocal possibilities of informatics and the Internet.

  • Issue Year: 3/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 33-46
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Romanian