Technological Prospects and Social Applications Set
coordinated by
Bruno Salgues
Volume 2
First published 2018 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
ISTE Ltd
27-37 St George’s Road
London SW19 4EU
UK
www.iste.co.uk
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
USA
www.wiley.com
© ISTE Ltd 2018
The rights of Jérôme Béranger to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949174
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78630-306-6
Welcome to a new world where mankind joins forces with machines through digital technology. To understand this new world, there is only one guide: the book of Jérôme Béranger.
Both lighthearted and serious, clear and complex, a source of hope as well as concern, the author’s reflections allow us to navigate between the questions and interests that digital technology and its applications raise.
This reconciliation of contradictions is easily achieved as the author helps the reader to ask the right questions by suggesting that they refer to a Code of Ethics.
Digital technology allegedly originated in nature where, in fine, all becomes one. Following the example of a matrix, nature is allegedly only a visual envelope which reflects a virtual reality. How can we then make sense of it, if not by relying on what is most fundamental and common to us? The answer is: ethics. As such, the author suggests inserting ethics into the meandering of digital technology, in order to come up with an algorithmic ethics, an applied ethics and a renewed ethics; an ambition which is sometimes difficult to consider for a lawyer with a Cartesian mind. To come to terms with it, returning to the word’s definition is necessary. Thus, French dictionaries commonly define ethics as all the principles of morality that are the basis for a person’s behavior. Ethics is thus generated by a moral that people question, challenge, contradict, and then accept and apply in order to comply with it. It is therefore a reference specific to each person.
Consequently, can codifying this ethics and creating an algorithmic ethics be considered?
With a strong, scientific demonstration, using mathematical and philosophical concepts, the author convinces the reader as to the need for a regulation of the digital world. This regulation cannot be exclusively legal; it must also be ethical. Thus, Jérôme Béranger suggests a digital governance laying the foundations for a responsible and empowered society whose foundation would be an algorithmic code of ethics.
Along the lines of a social pact within a digital society, Jérôme Béranger thus humbly lays down the foundations for our future societal model.
Lina WILLIATTE
Professor of Law – Université Catholique de Lille
Lawyer at the Lille bar – Cabinet WT Avocat
I wish to seize this literary opportunity to express my deep appreciation and my sincere gratitude to:
Without all these people, this book would never have seen the light of day!