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.
Author(s): James Katz, Katie Schiepers, Juliet Floyd
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 264
City: London
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
