Abstract

Rapid technological developments may exacerbate the victimhood already experienced by vulnerable individuals and communities. At the same time, broad societal anxieties induced by technology lead to the perception of algorithms, these entities of the unknown, as perpetrators. In this essay, I argue that these tendencies can be addressed by a nuanced process of technological co-creation and by the fostering of a public discourse in which “experts” and “public” are united in the acknowledgment of a shared vulnerability before the unknown, whether this unknown takes a technological, societal, or ethical shape.