Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting

by Shannon Vallor

The 21st century offers a dizzying array of new technological developments: robots smart enough to take white collar jobs, social media tools that manage our most important relationships, ordinary objects that track, record, analyze and share every detail of our daily lives, and biomedical techniques with the potential to transform and enhance human minds and bodies to an unprecedented degree.

Emerging technologies are reshaping our habits, practices, institutions, cultures and environments in increasingly rapid, complex and unpredictable ways that create profound risks and opportunities for human flourishing on a global scale. How can our future be protected in such challenging and uncertain conditions? How can we possibly improve the chances that the human family will not only live, but live well, into the 21st century and beyond?

This book locates a key to that future in the distant past: specifically, in the philosophical traditions of virtue ethics developed by classical thinkers from Aristotle and Confucius to the Buddha. Each developed a way of seeking the good life that equips human beings with the moral and intellectual character to flourish even in the most unpredictable, complex and unstable situations--precisely where we find ourselves today.

Through an examination of the many risks and opportunities presented by rapidly changing technosocial conditions, Vallor makes the case that if we are to have any real hope of securing a future worth wanting, then we will need more than just better technologies. We will also need better humans.

Technology and the Virtues develops a practical framework for seeking that goal by means of the deliberate cultivation of technomoral virtues specific skills and strengths of character, adapted to the unique challenges of 21st century life, that offer the human family our best chance of learning to live wisely and well with emerging technologies.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Futurism, Society

328 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2018

Reviews

[Saffron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving this 5 stars because EVERYONE should read the chapter on Knowing What to Wish For, and because this book does a great job with its crazy ambitious scope

[Allan Savage]

A FEW CRITICAL COMMENTS

While ethics has always been embedded in technological contexts, humans have, until very recently, been the primary authors of their moral choices, and the consequences of those choices were usually restricted to impacts on individual or local group welfare. Today, however, our aggregated moral choices in technological contexts routinely impact the well-being of people on the other side of the planet, a staggering number of other species and whole generations not yet born. (p. 2).

Comment: I fail to understand how in their “aggregated moral choices” humans do not remain primary authors of their moral choices, as the author seems to imply.

Such complexities [of the contemporary human situation] remind us that predicting the general shape of tomorrow’s innovations is not in fact, our biggest challenge: far harder, and more significant, is the job of figuring out what we will do with these technologies once we have them, and what they will do with us. This cannot be done without attending to a host of interrelated political, cultural, economic, environmental, and historical factors that co-direct human innovation and practice [Vallor’s emphasis] (p. 5).

Comment: The human being is the only consciously deliberate actor in moral ethical situations. I see no reason to posit any conscious deliberate initiative on the part of the human being’s environment, unless it is another human being, of course. I distinguish between movement and action. While parts of the human being’s environment may move, they do not consciously act.

To see what relational understanding is and why it is essential to the practice of moral self-cultivation, it helps to recognize how classical virtue traditions conceive of the human person: namely, as a relational being, someone whose identity is formed through a network of relationships. While some virtue traditions regard one’s relationships with other living things, objects, places, or deities as part of one’s unique identity, all virtue traditions acknowledge the central importance of our formative relationships with other human beings: our family, friends, neighbors, citizens, teachers, leaders, and models [Vallor’s emphasis] (p.76).

Comment: It is a bit of a stretch, I think, in classical virtue ethics to recognize a person’s identity as formed by relationships. Her suggestion of relational formation, in fact, belongs to a distinct contemporary philosophy of consciousness that requires the rejection of the Hellenic concepts of essence and existence, characteristic of classical philosophy in forming personal identity.

In discussing “competing visions of human (or posthuman) flourishing” on page 231 she opts not to expand on the clarification and significant difference between “transhumanism” and “a coming posthuman era” for reasons of space, as she admits in an endnote (p. 277).

For reasons of space, this passes over two key distinctions: the first is between the strong transhumanist program for enhancement and more modest enhancement goals that stop short of radical alteration of the human species. The second is the distinction between “transhuman” and “posthuman” philosophies; some transhumanists explicitly call for a posthuman future, that is, one in which humanity has been surpassed. Others … reject the notion of leaving our humanity behind, while simultaneously regarding the nature of our humanity as almost infinitely malleable. Finally, there are uses of “posthuman” in literary theory, gender, and culture studies … that do not map neatly onto the transhumanist conception of posthumanity. Both distinctions are important but fluid and contested.

Comment: To my mind, the very reasons she cites to pass over this distinction ought to merit a deeper and more serious study. A return to classical principles, no matter how successfully “tweaked” cannot do justice to this contemporary philosophical question. Our human experience already indicates that the products of digital technology are not impossible fictions in many cases, and we experience the boundaries of such products, not as “fixed” (as is Hellenistic philosophy) but fluid (as in phenomenological philosophy). Since human experience has not ceased to evolve, since the human being has not ceased to evolve, it follows that to be human is not a static state, but a fluid one subject to further evolutionary development — under the direction of a conscious human agent — unlike the previous process of pre-conscious biological evolution. That is to say, “pre-conscious humanity” has been surpassed by a “conscious humanity,” which, potentially, may be surpassed again in the future. That there are “uses of ‘posthuman’ in literary theory. gender, and culture studies” that do not integrate well with our present understanding is no reason to opt for an up-dating of the classics, and ignore an alternate philosophical approach that is likely to be more fitting to contemporary human experience. To my mind, this rejection is a major weakness of Vallor’s approach to the whole challenge of technology and virtues, which cannot be resolved by a sophisticated return to traditional thinking.

The brief review below, which I posted on Amazon ( 27 May, 2019) was generated in light of these and similar criticisms I have regarding her perspectives which are peppered throughout her book.

“On the whole I am sympathetic to Dr. Ezzat F. Guirguis’s review and am in general agreement with it. The journalistic style and generous use of the subjunctive mood (often characteristic of contemporary academic writing) frustrates more than assists the critical reader in arriving at a resolution of competing ideas. I am tempted to restate the subtitle after the fashion of a thesis prefatory page: A Philosophical Guide “in Partial Fulfillment” to a Future Worth Wanting, since this more accurately reflects the book’s achievement and the author’s conclusion on her own research. She writes: This book recommends a classical solution: an energetic (perhaps even desperate) collective effort to reinvest our cultures in the habits of moral self-cultivation and education for technological wisdom [her emphasis] (p. 145). To my mind, there is more to be said, and what is discussed here the reader must not assume to exhaust the topic. That is to say a critical reader will consciously place the book in context and thus possibly gain some worthwhile insights. To my mind, to understand her perspective (and her apparent conviction of thought) on the material she presents requires a generous stretch of one’s imagination. The book is more likely to impress and convince the less critical academic. The comment on the jacket of the book from the Notre Dame Philosophical Review is an excellent clue to identifying the intended readership of this book. For the anxiously inquiring mind, it “captures the special blend of excitement and precariousness that is woven into our lives today by our use and reliance on constantly changing technology.” As a guide to critical philosophical thought, however — caveat emptor.”

A note for the theologically erudite: It might be advantageous to view Vallor’s perspective at updating classical philosophy to meet the experience of the contemporary age as similar to that of the ecclesiastical authorities’ attempt at updating theology to meet the experience of the modern world. They opted for an aggiornamento, rather than for a ressourcement of philosophical thought, the latter being the more resourceful.

[Jacqui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shannon Vallor argues we need a "new culture of technomoral virtue, in which human individuals, families, communities, and institutions consciously work to inculcate the specific moral skills and capabilities that intelligent life needs in order to responsibly direct and wisely manage the use of technoscientific power" (p.252). In other words, we need tools of moral self- (and societal) cultivation that allow us to build lives of flourishing amidst the increasingly complex and opaque futures that our techno-world comprises.

Drawing on global traditions of virtue ethics, Vallor focuses on those developed from/around Aristotle, Kongzi (non-Latinized form of Confucius), and Buddhism. All three garner significant space within each chapter. The final four chapters examine specific techomoral challenges surrounding: new social media, surveillance technologies, robots in war and (caring) at home, and human enhancement technologies.

I liked the comparative lens, and think Vallor argues well for her conclusions. Specifically, however, I'm not convinced of the role that moral exemplars need (?) to play in a new tradition of technomoral virtue ethics, and that would be an area deserving future thought. For anyone who wants to think more about the interactions between technology, ethics, and human attempts to aim for a "future worth wanting" this book will surely provide much inspiration.

P.S. One small habit in the text is to use the word "blind" to mean ignorant or lacking awareness (this might happen in every chapter, though I didn't keep track - and is something widespread, not just in this book of course). This is ableist usage that Vallor (and others) would do better to avoid in the future.

[Erhardt Graeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shannon Vallor's Technology and the Virtues is the best book on technology ethics. It is not a practical guide to ethical decision-making in technology. It won't tell you what to do given a specific dilemma. Instead, it's much deeper—a careful philosophical argument for a global framework for virtue ethics that meaningfully engages with the entwinement of contemporary technology and civilization. If you want a learn how to work toward human flourishing in the age of AI, gene editing, etc., this will tell you what capacities to work on and how they can help you ask better questions and work with others to build good sociotechnical futures.

The first part of the book makes the argument for a shared set of ethical ideas across virtue traditions in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Western (Aristotelian) philosophy. This allows Vallor to argue that we can conceive a global ethical framework to address technologies that are global in scope. These are densest academic chapters of the book. But they establish some important concepts like "moral attention," which help us understand how the "technomoral" virtues, eventually defined in Chapter 6, work.

Building on the classical virtue traditions, Vallor identifies 12 virtues for the 21st century: Honesty, Self-Control, Humility, Justice, Courage, Empathy, Care, Civility, Flexibility, Perspective, Magnanimity, and Technomoral Wisdom. Some of these are familiar virtues with definitions updated for the times. Others are new, like Care, which embraces feminist care ethics. And some do not mean what their common word definitions would indicate. For instance, the technomoral virtue of Civility is a "more robust form of cosmopolitan civic-mindedness, a reliably and intelligently expressed disposition to value communal ethical life in a global technosocial context and to act accordingly."

The last section of the book examines four technological domains—social media, surveillance, robots, and human enhancement technology—and how we should use the technomoral virtues to navigate their ethical complexities and find paths toward designing, using, and regulating the technologies to achieve global human flourishing. Although the book came out in 2016, Vallor's examinations of social media and artificial intelligence are still relevant and compelling. She concludes the book by discussing human enhancement technologies like gene editing because it forces us to literally ask: What is human flourishing? What is precious about humanity? What defines human dignity? She calls this "Knowing what to wish for" and argues that these fundamental questions require our collective technomoral Wisdom—the supreme virtue of applying our various cultivated virtues to good ends.

In my own research and pedagogy on ethical responsibilities of engineers and technologists, I have concluded that some version of cultivated virtue is necessary to ensure we have folks building our technologies with eyes wide open, appropriate humility, and a civic-mindedness that transcends narrow perspectives and economic assumptions. If you care about this, you should read this book. If you are interested in what it takes to be virtuous in the 21st century, you should read this book. Highly recommended!

[Otto Lehto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Against the claim, popular among many contemporary moral philosophers, that virtue ethics is only suitable for pre-modern societies and thus, at best, outdated, Vallor's book provides a compelling, provocative retort: No, it is only through the capacity of virtue ethics to facilitate adaptation to changing circumstances that we can survive and thrive in a technologically advanced society. Although I disagree with a lot of the substantive conclusions, I think that her rigorous approach to the topic, her understanding of the stakes, and her scoping reach into past moral philosophy make for a thrilling ride. She wants us to tackle the myriad problems of bioethics, A.I., social media, robot warfare, and more, using the tools of modernized lessons from Greek, Chinese, and Indian virtue ethics. She argues that "the only plausible first step" towards finding a sustainable solution to the problem of adaptation to new technologies is "to convene new institutions, communities, and cultural alliances in the service of global technomoral cultivation." This must be right on some level. At the same time, her solution carries the risk of undermining the free spirit of enterprise and liberal experimentalism that may be needed to push our technomoral future into new heights. Perhaps virtue ethics, if collectivized too much, might lead to reduced adaptive capacity? In this sense, the critics of virtue ethics might be right in their challenge. Indeed, there is a lingering tension in her normative framework between the particularizing force of local traditions and community-specific norms, on the one hand, and the universalizing spirit of democratic humanism, on the other hand. Her analysis has limits - many of which she recognizes. But she gestures towards a kind of deliberative, engaged global debate that is surely needed to get ahead to solve some of the new global problems.

[Ryan Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technology and the Virtues

Book 22 of 2023. Technology is evolving rapidly and has the power to create species-wide (and beyond) impacts. It also creates challenges to traditional ethical frameworks. Here, Vallor looks back to Aristotelian “virtue ethics” for inspiration. It’s a bit dry in the first half, which is a comparison of ethical frameworks to find a universal set of values, but the second half adds a nice layer of practicality that picks things up nicely.

What does it mean to live a “good life” in the modern technological age? Valid questions and certainly Aristotle, Buddha and Confucius (The ABC’s of ethics?) have much to teach us. The first section has a bit of self reinforcing logical structure that might hide weakness, but this is irrelevant to the broader themes in the second half. The chapters on robotics and human enhancements are particularly captivating.

The framework for self-cultivation of a techno moral virtue ethic seems well reasoned and comprehensive. One thing is clear: our focus on STEM education without tempering with ethics and humanity will lead to more of the awful bits of what tech is giving us without meaningful options for improvement.

Despite the book offering a set of guidelines, implementation is not a forgone conclusion. What the author calls for is a massive reorganization of society around these values, their enrichment and promulgation. As Vallor writes, “ This will not be easy, since the lion’s share the planet’s technological and scientific resources are controlled by liberal societies operating in cultures focused on short term, private gains, alienated from any shared conception of the ultimate moral goods to be realized by collective action in the long-term interests of the human family.”

[David Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shannon Vallor argues that we desperately need to dedicate ourselves to cultivating and propagating a set of human virtues appropriate to our rapidly-changing technological era, so that we can preserve the hope of a future worth living.

Vallor believes that “virtue ethics” offers the best framework to work from, as other frameworks (Kantian/deontological or utilitarian/consequentialist) do not function well in situations of rapid change and what she calls “acute technosocial opacity”.

Vallor reviews the history and current revival of virtue ethics, concentrating in particular on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Confucian ethics, and Buddhist ethics. She examines the methods those traditions advise us to use for moral self-cultivation. And she describes a system of moral foundations and a set of particular virtues that she thinks will serve us well in our technological age.

She then uses her proposed framework to suggest approaches to some pressing “technomoral” issues: social media, panoptic surveillance, military robotics, care robotics, and human enhancement technology.

[Todd Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic, important and profound book that I highly recommend every technologist to read.

The book starts by laying the foundations of individual moral development in a historical context (talking about Greek, Chinese and Buddhist culture), before describing virtues required to properly navigate the moral problems that society faces from technologies today, and finally going through some worked examples. It ends by laying out multiple ways that technology could develop, and the importance of the societal integration of practical technomoral wisdom to avoid the worse outcomes.

I was surprised to find that the content of the book, especially the first two sections, was directly applicable to my own life. I feel as though the book has made me a more morally mature person, which I am very grateful for.

[Velislava · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege to attend a talk by the author last month, where she touched on topics discussed in this book, with a continuation of how to be involved, human technology vs. humane technology, and the need of a global awareness on continuing or technological advancements morally.

Each chapter of this book could easily be expanded into its own book with a variety of further examples and resources to be debated and reasoned. It is one of the few books which has spurred me to make active changes in my thinking and lifestyle, and to comprehend the basic truth that survival is not enough, living well is what we should be aiming for instead.

I strongly recommend not only reading this book but taking the time to consider and further information on the topics provided.

[Angélique Huige · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was writing a research on modern technology and what is has done to Aristotelian virtues, I came across this book. I had to pick one main work of literature to review, and this was great. It connected perfectly to my research question and I was surprised about it's easily readable format. Many of the books I found related to modern technology and society were outdated and difficult to comprehend. As others have mentioned, Vallor does leave the format of what technomoral virtues should look like somewhat open. It is still open for interpretation. However, I think that fits the message of the book very well. Virtues as dependant on the time, place, culture, and other variables that add to context. For that reason it would be nearly impossible to define them to detail. It was a great read!

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

A genuinely remarkable, ambitious, and readable work synthesizing multiple global schools of thought to attempt to establish a universal value ethics for technology evaluation.

Vallor hits the nail on the head when she convincingly points to what’s lacking in contemporary global society: morals and ethics. Without coming across as preachy or, ironically, moralizing, she makes the case for the value and power of virtue ethics in the face of modern utilitarianism and moral relativism as useful and crucial in order to avoid immoral and horrific outcomes with deleterious collective consequences.

With useful examples and requiring little to no philosophical background, the work is also surprisingly accessible to non-philosophy and non-tech experts. Highly recommended for all readers.

[Daniel Kasenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thoroughly impressed by this book. It accomplished the rare goal of being both relevant to my research in AI ethics, and inspirational to me as a person. As I've stepped back from a religious background, I've been interested in trying to find new techniques for the struggle to become a better person. This book was an unexpected place for me to find that, as well as an interesting exploration of what a morality in the age of information technology, AI and radical human enhancement might look like.

For me personally, some of the extensive comparison of Aristotelian, Confucian, and Buddhist virtue ethics lagged a bit, but aside from that I have no real objections.

[Graeme · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great example of the reduction of virtue theory to morality in Bernard Williams' sense of the term. In this context, virtue theory is reduced to the same kind of academic theory as deontology and utilitarianism which misses one of the largest reasons for the revival of virtue theory; that is, that the question of what it is good to be is not reducible to do what it is right to do.

[Nedjmou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good books

[Cornederuijt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing this review from my own background as a data scientist, I found the book interesting but at times difficult read. The first part of the book discusses in quite depth the overlap in virtues between different classical philosophies, which was difficult to follow if your knowledge on the subject is as shallow as mine. The second part, in which the technomoral virtues are explained and in which examples are given on how these apply to different technological innovations, is on the other hand food for thought and provides interesting perspectives towards these innovations.

[Kevin Lee]

The moral consideration of technology requires virtue. Deontological approaches lack needed resources. So, how can virtue be recovered? Vallor looks to several virtue traditions. But, I am not sure that she has shown that a virtue ethics can be grounded in pluralism.