The past year the influx of refugees has been the topic of many discussions. How will these newcomers affect the people who already live in Sweden? How will they affect the economy, the labour market,

Theoria, Volume 84, Issue 4. doi.org/10.1111/theo.12166 Abstract In 1997 John Broome presented the Collapsing Argument that was meant to establish that non‐conventional comparative relations (e.g., “par

The socially sustainable society

A socially sustainable society is a society where people live well and feel safe. But such a society is constantly faced with challenges, from organized crime, differences in values and scarcity of resources, but also from ideas we have about each other that are not even conscious but can still affect the way we shape our society. This is our most comprehensive theme.

After two of the most damaging hurricanes in history affected the Gulf of Mexico just a few days apart, the impact of climate-induced catastrophes is finally getting some attention. However, in truth,

Larry Temkin, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. The State University of New Jersey. ABSTRACT The goal of this talk is modest. It is simply to help illuminate

Nanda Wijermans, Stockholm Resilience Centre Human behaviour is a complex phenomenon with a lot of open questions. Computational modelling can support the scientific quest for more understanding of hum

White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy, Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford ABSTRACTMany people believe that collectives of certain kinds, such as corporations and states, are entities ca

Hilary Greaves, professor of philosophy at Oxford and researcher at IFFS, is the world's leading philosopher of the long-term future, according to the American news site Vox. Among the work that Vox m

in: Technology in Society. 63, 101396 Abstract:Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of Deep Learning (DL) technology has diffused in the consumer domain in a unique way as compared to previous gene, i.e., by being added to preexisting technologies that are already in use. We find that DL-algorithms for recommendations or ranking have been infused into all the 15 most popular mobile applications (apps) in the U.S. (as of May 2019). DL-infusion enables fast and vast diffusion. For example, when a DL-system was infused into YouTube, it almost immediately reached a third of the world's population. We argue that existing theories of innovation diffusion and adoption have limited relevance for DL-infusion, because it is a process that is driven by enterprises rather than individuals. We also discuss its social and ethical implications. First, consumers have a limited ability to detect and evaluate an infused technology. DL-infusion may thus help to explain why AI's presence in society has not been challenged by many. Second, the DL-providers are likely to face conflicts of interest, since consumer and supplier goals are not always aligned. Third, infusion is likely to be a particularly important diffusion process for DL-technologies as compared to other innovations, because they need large data sets to function well, which can be drawn from preexisting users. Related, it seems that larger technology companies comparatively benefit more from DL-infusion, because they already have many users. This suggests that the value drawn from DL is likely to follow a Matthew Effect of accumulated advantage online: many preexisting users provide a lot of behavioral data, which bring about better DL-driven features, which attract even more users, etc. Such a self-reinforcing process could limit the possibilities for new companies to compete. This way, the notion of DL-infusion may put light on the power shift that comes with the presence of AI in society.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic change our social norms?

As you might remember, a lot of our social behaviors changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how we perceived the behaviors of others. What was once deemed acceptable behavior became scrutinized, wi