This article makes the case that speed has become significant, indeed central, as a social scientific category and focus of attention today. In particular, it engages with two contemporary theoretical currents that conceptualize the causes, consequences and manifestations of social speed as a fundamental feature of modernity. One key contribution is Hartmut Rosa’s interpretation of ‘social acceleration’, which is offered by him as part of a reinvigorated version of Critical Theory. Another is John Tomlinson’s (complementary but different) orientation, focusing on (...) variant cultural settings and implications of speed. By juxtaposing and assessing these two thematizations of speed/acceleration, with other recent treatments brought in at various points, the article underlines the need to clarify and debate these modal notions as a distinctive issue for social analysis. In addition, I bring out more explicitly the ambiguous nature of speed as a descriptive and normative concern. In this respect, while there can be no denying its negative-oppressive force – both structurally and experientially – it is also necessary to attend to the more positive-enabling aspects of ‘fast’ subjectivity. (shrink)

The popular debates about the future organization of work through artificial intelligence technologies focus on the replacement of human beings by novel technologies. In this essay, we oppose this statement by closely following what has been developed as AI technologies and analyzing how they work, specifically focusing on research that may impact work organizations. We develop this argument by showing that the recent research and developments in AI technologies focus on developing accurate and precise performance models, which in turn shapes (...) organizational patterns of work. We propose that the increased interest in the relationship between human cognition and performance will shortly bring human cognition to the focus on AI systems in workplaces. More specifically, we claim that the cognitive load measurement will shape human performance in manufacturing systems shortly. (shrink)

What does Cyberpunk and AI Ethics have to do with each other? Cyberpunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that explores the post-human relationships between human experience and technology. One similarity between AI Ethics and Cyberpunk literature is that both seek a dialogue in which the reader may inquire about the future and the ethical and social problems that our technological advance may bring upon society. In recent years, an increasing number of ethical matters involving AI have been pointed and (...) debated, and several ethical principles and guides have been suggested as governance policies for the tech industry. However, would this be the role of AI Ethics? To serve as a soft and ambiguous version of the law? I would like to promote in this article a more Cyberpunk way of doing AI Ethics, whit a more anarchic way of governance. In this study, I will seek to expose some of the deficits of the underlying power structures of our society, and suggest that AI governance be subject to public opinion, so that ‘good AI’ can become ‘good AI for all’. (shrink)

In his early writings, Heidegger argues that existence fluctuates between an authentic and an inauthentic mode of being. One of the differences of these modes of existence is the way in which time is experienced in each other. This paper aims to propose a link between these notions of temporality and, in the light of that link, to determine the main features of the authentic mode of being in the age of technique. To achieve this goal, I analyze a quote (...) from Borges in order to sketch out how we can think a relationship between the two notions of temporality. Once the relationship has been sketched, I will review some of Heidegger’s theses on the epoch of technique that offer us the tools to reflect on the nuances that authentic existence adopts in our epoch. This article aims to think on how a relationship between the two notions of temporality could be considered and, considering this link, the features that the authentic existence could acquire in the age of technique. In that sense, I suggest that serenity can be conceived as the way in which authentic existence acts. Serenity is not the passivity of man versus technique, but a way of responding to the occurrence of being, a genuine way of acting according to the time. (shrink)