DEMOCRACY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
DEMOCRACY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

Summary/Abstract: If we accept that the democratic paradigm involves majority rule being constrained by human rights, including, in particular, the right to privacy, then the continuing encroachments on this paradigm must be seen as a threat to the foundations of democracy. A culture of respect for privacy comes as an indispensable condition for a human being to develop and nurture a personality aware of their individual identity, enabling him or her to assess the performance of public authority in a manner independent of the latter. In everyday practice, as it happens, people find their affairs to be increasingly determined by non-human factors, a result of the expansion of automated services and stock-exchange transactions, the internet of things, etc. The rules laid down by constitutions of democratic states are about the exercise of power by sovereign people, not by sovereign algorithms. Such a sovereignty is grounded in the freedom of choice, which involves dialogue, persuasion, and the deliberative process as a basis for making decisions. Artificial intelligence, in the currently existing forms, is not capable of reasoning based on knowledge and culture, nor can it conduct a dialogue in which it could be persuaded to change its view and thus accept a given arrangement. No instrument has been developed up to this day that would embrace a spiritual culture, which is intrinsic to humans.

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