Five Major Ethical Issues Concerning Extended Cognitive Technology

Song Chunyan

Five Major Ethical Issues Concerning Extended Cognitive Technology

Song Chunyan*

Extended cognitive technology refers to technology that extends cognitive activity from the human brain, or body, to an external cognitive environment. This technology is best represented by the Internet. While significantly benefiting humanity and social development, extended cognitive technology has also triggered a range of ethical controversies. This paper first defines extended cognitive technology and analyzes related concepts, then explores five major ethical issues it raises. Suggestions regarding ethical governance are then proposed.

extended cognition; extended cognitive technology; ethical issues

Nowadays, due to the rapid development of information technology, profound changes have taken place in people’s working style and even brain functioning. When it comes to the integration of external cognitive environment with cognitive subjects, there is no better demonstration than the Internet. The Internet now represents the best technology of extended minds. From a perspective of technological evolution, extended cognitive technology has developed along with the successive emergence of language, writing systems, paper, printing, computers and the Internet. At present, the next generation technology, with big data, cloud computing, ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things (IOT) at the core, has become a major representative of extended cognitive technology. In the future, benefiting from the in–depth integration of ultra–strong extended cognitive technologies with the human brain, the convergent development of nanotechnology,biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC) will blur the boundary between cognitive subject and external media, or between organic entity and inorganic entity. Extended cognitive technology’s rapid penetration into human social life is changing conventional man–machine interactions and delivering an impact on human mindsets, lifestyles, knowledge generation, economic production and even social structures. Those techniques, with the potential to breed revolutionary breakthroughs, bring about much convenience to human life. Yet at the same time, they are accompanied by many unknown risks. For this reason, it becomes increasingly imperative to always stay alert and give ethical consideration to potential future problems.

Cloud Computing

1. The Definition of Extended Cognitive Technology and Related Concepts

1.1 The definition of extended cognitive technology

There is no clear definition of “extended cognitive technology” in the academic circles up to now, for which it is necessary to define this concept first. “Extended cognitive technology” originates from the theory of “extended cognition” or “extended mind.” “Extended cognition” or “extended mind”was first proposed by Clark and Chalmers in 1998. Their core argument is that “human cognition is not confined to the skull” and that “the mind can extend beyond the body,” emphasizing the external environment’s crucial role in advancing cognitive process.[1]Based on their theory, Paul R. Smart developed his theory of “web–extended mind,” according to which system–based technical components and data resources in network can also serve as a functional basis for human cognitive systems.[2]There are scholars further proposing that a subject’s cognitive activity can extend to tools in external environment (such as laptops and the Internet) and also to someone else’s brain and body. The latter type is called “socially extended cognition,” which highly relies on trust and support, or an effective social contract.[3]Hence extended cognitive technology is gradually advancing with the development of scientific technology and society.

Cognitive technology is known as serial simulation and reinforcement of the biological mechanism of the human cognitive process.[4]In this sense, extended cognitive technology is the operation that extends cognitive activity from the human brain and body to external cognitive environment. Furthermore, such a technology has already formed an indispensable component in the users’ mind or cognition. Human cognition can be classified into the levels concerning nerve, psychology, language, thinking and culture.[5]Given that, extended cognitive technology refers to technologies that simulate and reinforce cognitive activities at the levels of language, thinking and culture (i.e. higher cognitive level).

It is true that “extended cognition” has been very popular ever since it was first introduced. However, there have been no lack of controversies over this concept among scholars. These controversies focuson the interactions between a cognitive subject and external cognitive environment. According to some scholars, extended cognition is wrong in taking the coupling relation among objects which interact with human body for a constituent relation; consequently, it wrongly concludes the overflow of human cognition; extended recognition is not a real recognition process; moreover, brain cognition–concerned intracranial structure is in close relation with other parts of the brain, which is fundamentally different from those external media existing in isolation. Also, as Jerry Fodor put it, if the external objects are all endowed with a cognitive role simply due to their participation in cognitive activities, the destination of extended cognition will be difficult to determine.[6]Generally speaking, through over a decade of academic debates, the existence of an extended mind is beyond doubt. After all, the development of the Internet and NBIC technology enables people to truly experience the extension of mind facilitated by extended cognitive technologies. Such technologies, by forging an external environment outside the body, manage to exert their influence on the human brain’s cognitive activities. Under such circumstances, extended cognitive technology–triggered philosophical and ethical issues and corresponding solutions are being constantly discussed.

1.2 The analysis of other concepts related to extended cognitive technology

Internet

Although no clear definition has yet been given to “extended cognitive technology,” there arealready many related concepts, including cognitive enhancement technology, NBIC technology, cloud computing, big data, ubiquitous computing, the Internet of Things (IOT), and other next–generation technologies. In order to conclude a definite connotation and denotation of “extended cognitive technology,” this paper makes a detailed analysis of the meanings of these related concepts, as well as the relevance and differences among them.

1.2.1 Cognitive enhancement technology

Cognitive enhancement technology is the one that utilizes the latest biomedical technology to enhance cognitive competence. Originating in the medical treatment of cognitive impairments, this technology has now extended to non–medical purpose–driven interventions in the cognitive competence of healthy individuals. According to its means, cognitive enhancement technology mainly falls into three categories; drug application, apparatus implantation, and genetic intervention.[7]Extended cognitive technology enhances human cognitive competence through cognitive environment extension. Different from that, cognitive enhancement technology aims to enhance the human body, the cognitive subject itself.

1.2.2 NBIC technology

NBIC technology is an integration of the four scientific areas of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science, each of which is experiencing rapid development. Initially, NBIC technology was developed to improve human competence, particularly cognitive and communicative competences. W. A. Wallace once ambitiously claimed that as long as cognitive scientists developed it, nanoengineers would be able to build it; bio–engineers would be able to realize it; and IT engineers would be able to monitor and control it.[8]Hence it can be concluded that NBIC technology's extension of human cognition is not restricted to the enhancement of a cognitive subject's cognitive competence through biotechnology, and that it also raises a subject’s comprehensive cognitive level by improving the cognitive environment. The emergence of NBIC technology blurs the boundary between cognitive subject and cognitive environment.

1.2.3 Information technology

Information technology represents the development of contemporary extended cognitive technology. It is widely accepted that information technology includes sensor technology, communications technology, and computer technology, which are the respective extensions of human sense organs, the nervous system and brain functions. In recent years, benefiting from the rapid development of big data, cloud computing, ubiquitous computing, and related technologies, information technology has made remarkable achievements in extending human cognition. Big data is unique in the sense that it can generate the most authentic possible investigation results from a vast amount of information, thus accelerating information communications and significantly saving human cognition costs. Cloud computing is the core of big data technology.[9]Just like cloud computing, ubiquitous computing aims to serve human beings anytime anywhere without even being noticed. Focusing on human needs, ubiquitous computing has fundamentally changed our passive idea that it is our duty to adapt to machine computation.[10]The Internet of Things (IOT) is a generic term referring to the Internet–based technologies which utilize terminal devices to enable intelligent surveillance, tracking and positioning via techniques such as remote sensing, positioning and RF. IOT relies heavily on communications among things[11]and it enhances human mastery of the cognitive environment.

The above analysis shows that there are both differences and relevance among cognitiveenhancement technology, NBIC technology, information technology and extended cognitive technology. Cognitive enhancement technology should not be confused with extended cognitive technology. Though the latter is also capable of enhancing human cognitive competence, it does not use the same tools as those of the former. More specifically, cognitive enhancement technology relies on certain elements in a cognitive environment to form a “cognitive carrier” and it mainly concerns information technology or the convergence of information technology and other technologies. By contrast, extended cognitive technology enhances human cognitive competence through biotechnologies directly targeting the human brain or body. Likewise, NBIC technology is not identical with extended cognitive technology, though there is indeed some overlap between the two. It is worth mentioning that part of NBIC technology, which improves cognitive environment via information technology and other technologies, falls into the category of extended cognitive technology. Information technology, big data and IOT in particular, belongs to extended cognitive technology. In short, both information technology and NBIC technology exhibit similar features and development objectives with those of extended cognitive technology. Information technology is a typical example of the latest extended cognitive technology, while NBIC technology represents the mainstream trend of the future.

2. Ethical Issues Concerning Extended Cognitive Technology

Although extended cognitive technology has been existed since ancient times, unlike current extended cognitive technology, the traditional version did not bring about such a huge impact on, or such high ethical risks to, human life. As NBIC technology further advances, future extended cognitive technologies will have infinite possibilities of development, which raises ethical concerns.

2.1 Whether cognitive technology is a threat to human security

When extended cognitive technology “quietly”transforms from an external factor of cognitive environment to a mind–shaping factor, the first arising ethical issue we face is whether extended cognitive technology will become a threat to human security, given that it is so closely related to the human mind. Its most direct threat is a privacy threat. In an era of big data, data from various systems can support each other and defend each other. Through data integration and information aggregation, full representation of an individual’s entire life journey becomes possible. Under such circumstances, individual privacy has no place to hide.[12]And the worst of all is its threat to human life. The introduction of Lethal Autonomous Robots (LARs) enables people to avoid battlefields; but at the same time, LARs can make their own decisions about whether to kill a target or not. The LARs’right to take human life panics both scholars and the public alike.[13]Yet, it is their threat to the survival of human beings as a species that is most profound and fundamental. Intelligent robots were initially designed to enhance human cognitive activities such as computation and memorizing. However, since AlphaGo’s defeat of professional Go player Lee Sedol, it has become an increasing concern that intelligent robots will replace human beings sooner or later. Such a concern is fueled by the robots’ role as villains in many sci–fimovies. The public even worries that once these intelligent robots acquire self–consciousness, they may launch a massacre against humans.

2.2 Whether extended cognitive technology can impose a negative impact on human cognitive competence

Intelligent Robots

When extended cognitive techniques like the Internet become indispensable cognitive components for most people in modern society, the public will, out of habit, rely on such techniques, trust them and even blindly follow them. Previously, when encountering something “unknown,” we would carefully observe it, think about it, and sometimes make a judgment about it based on our experience, or even appeal to authority. But now, whenever there is something “unknown,” Chinese netizens ask search engine Baidu for help without hesitation. On the one hand, such a search engine–reliant approach of knowledge acquisition seems to save communication costs. On the other hand, this approach gradually impairs human capabilities of expression, memorizing, and even communication. Given that, it is worthwhile exploring whether extended cognitive technology can impose a negative impact on human cognitive competence. According to Verbeek and other scholars, as soon as a technology is in use, it will inevitably have an impact on its users.[14]And Marshall McLuhan pointed out that when embracing any extension of ourselves in technological form that we see, use, or perceive, we inevitably experience the closing of a series of self–perceptions.[15]Taking a clock as an example, Lewis Mumford discussed the technology’s separation of humans from nature, holding that while a clock helps people to quantify the world, it also separates specific human activities from time.[16]In Nicholas G. Carr’s view, the distractions in our lives have been proliferating for a long time, but never has there been a medium that, like the Internet, so widely and insistently scatter our attention, which will affect the growth of our nerve cells and the development of our long–term memory.[17]

2.3 Who should be held accountable for extended cognitive technology’s errors?

When we utilize extended cognitive technology to transform the cognitive environment and makethe latter an indispensable cognitive component, we are faced with an unavoidable question, “Who should be held accountable for extended cognitive technology’s errors?” Regarding whether machine or computer need to shoulder any moral responsibility for their engagement in human cognitive activities, there are two divided opinions. One is that humans should be responsible for the machine’s engagement. As Norbert Wiener put it early in the 1950s, “Unless humans are willing to be responsible for all the consequences of machine selection, there is no way we can shift the responsibility for good–evil choice to a man–made machine; throwing such a responsibility to a machine is very much like throwing it into the wind, only to find it blown back by whirlwind.”[18]Currently, knowledge acquisition and dissemination mainly relies on information and communication techniques. Given that, some scholars believe the responsibility of such a collective operation should be shouldered by relevant practitioners, system designers and software engineers.[19]Other scholars hold that computer systems are more in the nature of a moral agent. Now that computer systems have partially replaced morally bonded staff, they have shifted their role from tool to agent, and it is more than natural for a computer system to be vested with a certain moral agent nature. Consequently, it is necessary and imperative for humans to build a moral evaluation framework for computer systems.[20]To be precise, whether computer systems should shoulder relevant moral responsibility remains open for debate.

2.4 Whether extended cognitive technology can deprive humans of their self–consciousness

Extended cognitive technology plays an irreplaceable role in human cognitive activities. This technology has become an indispensable part of certain occupations. Nowadays, with the popularization of smartphones, a portable communication platform, the Internet is able to further showcase its unique charm. Yet at the same time, human beings have become excessively dependent on it. In current society, for the younger generation, a life without the Internet or smartphone is simply unimaginable. According to Martin Heidegger, modern technology has become a framework which controls the human mindset and behavior patterns; and human beings have become useful observers deprived of their subjectivity. It is for this reason that many ethicists worry that the development of extended cognitive technology may lead to deprivation of humans’self–consciousness. The technical environment that an extended cognitive subject relies on will become more and more complicated, for which the extended cognitive subject may find their individual uniqueness impaired during the extended cognitive process. Such impairment will exert an impact on our traditional concept of humanity and human rationality.[21]The electronic life, by changing our way of communicating with the external world, influences human identity. If information technology influences the way the people perceived by others, which subsequently transforms various forms of social communication, it will influence the way the people look at himself, which will subsequently transform our ideas of self–consciousness.[22]

2.5 Whether Extended Cognitive Technology Can Enhance Human Happiness

The creation of language and writing system facilitated the inheritance of human civilization and accelerated their development. Later, the invention of paper and printing boosted the integration of literate and oral culture, stimulating a gigantic power greater than any previous power of social reform.[15]Today, the popularization of the Internet connects people around the world and brings about an efficient work style and a convenient life to us all. There is even an avant–garde wearable advertisement advocating “making our life lazierand more comfortable.” Given that, one cannot help wonder whether the development of extended cognitive technology can really enhance human happiness. Technological optimists hold that extended cognitive technology can benefit human development. According to them, the introduction of Lethal Autonomous Robots (LARs) can provide more humanistic care amid military conflicts and thus save the lives of parties concerned.[13]“Cyborg,”a mixture of organic and machine parts, has the potential to transcend the existing dilemma where there are a variety of conflicting identities; and to build a subject concept characterized by “diversity, fuzzy boundaries, zero conflict and non–essential attributes.”[23]By contrast, technological pessimists do not believe extended cognitive technology can benefit human development. Instead, they think this technology will give rise to new injustices, inequalities and social contradictions (such as the contradiction between extended lifespan and energy shortage; superior performance–triggered inferiority complex among the rest of the members of a social group).[24]In fact, we cannot even expect fair distribution of the right to access computer technology, or rather the Internet, which is arguably the most widely used technique in current society.[25]For technological neutrals, however, extended cognitive technology should be developed in a prudent manner, which requires the inclusion of its social and ethical impacts into technological consideration.[26]By virtue of its extension and convergence, the emerging technologies may generate revolutionary results. Such a possibility highlights the importance of ethical considerations in technology research, development and application.[27]

It is precisely because of the ethical issues concerning current extended cognitive technology (represented by the Internet), and potential ethical risks that may be caused by future extended cognitive technology (represented by NBIC) that we should take a more cautious attitude towards NBIC development. When necessary, a temporary technical forbidden zone should be established to ensure that technological development will benefit humanity.[28]

3. There Is still a Long Way to Go before the Ethical Governance of Extended Cognitive Technology Is Achieved

Regarding possible ethical issues that may be triggered by extended cognitive technology, the academic circles unanimously call for the establishment of corresponding legal and ethical mechanisms to regulate this technological development. Chen Wanqiu and other scholars, based on the stage characteristics of this technological process, proposed a dynamic protocol mechanism which in sequence consists of; decision–making stage including ethical evaluation, R&D stage with ethical self–discipline, application stage with ethical legislation, promotion stage involving ethics corrections.[29]According to Prof. Qiu Renzong and other scholars, the effective promotion and application of big data technology requires the formulation of an ethical framework to evaluate big data facilitated actions, so as to lay an ethical basis for the formulation of corresponding codes of conduct and management systems and the realization of legislative intent.[30]Ding Dawei and other scholars proposed four major measures to address possible risks in the development of emerging technologies, which respectively are giving full play to the government’s leading role; enhancing the participation of the scientific community, improving the safety assessments of emerging technologies, as well as taking the initiative to engage in global research and development and risk governance.[31]Wang Guoyu, along with other scholars, proposedan action–based feasibility framework of ethical principles, stressing that ethics should be adopted to assist science to tackle technological uncertainty.[32]

Due to the limitations of human cognitive systems, however, there is no way we can have a sound and complete understanding of the ethics concerning developing technologies, for which constant alert becomes the only sensible choice.[27]Macedo (2008) further pointed out that we cannot solely rely on decision–makers, scientists, or ethicists to solve existing or coming ethical and social challenges, and that this task requires the joint efforts of multiple divisions and a diversity of disciplines. Based on that, he proposed the concept of “ethical governance.”[30]The combination of ethical governance with social governance becomes a key direction for future ethical conception of the Internet. For example, we need to conceive the Internet's future ethics by following the expectations of the general public[33]and draw support from the public to guide, rather than restrict the development of the Internet.[34]

Regarding the ethical governance of extended cognitive technology, relevant researches both in China and abroad remain at the level of theoretical assumption, with little practical experience accumulated. Besides, current ethical protocol mechanisms cannot be geared to other social governance measures. This means there is still a long way to go before emerging technology oriented ethical governance theories can be applied in real practice.

(Translator: Wengyi; Editor: Yan Yuting)

This paper has been translated and reprinted with the permission ofStudies in Ethics, No.1, 2016.

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*Song Chunyan, assistant research fellow at Hunan Academy of Social Sciences and researcher at the Center for Post–Doctoral Studies in Philosophy, Hunan Normal University .

*Foundation item: This paper is included in“Studies in High–tech Ethics”(12&ZD117)—a major program of National Social Sciences Fund; “Studies in the Ethics of Extended–cognitive Technology”(2016M592432)—a program funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation; and “Ethical Issues and Governance of Extended–cognitive Technology”(2015QNKT03)—a program funded by Science Foundation for Young Scholars, Hunan Academy of Social Sciences.