Professor Floridi's lecture slides from the FInnish Ministry of Communications and Transports information strategies-seminar held in 14.5.2014 in Dipoli, Espoo, Finland.

1. ICT, THE FUTURE OF JOBS,
AND THE HUMAN PROJECT
Luciano Floridi
Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information
Director of Research
OII, University of Oxford

2. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

3. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

4. PROCESSING POWER – MOORE’S LAW
1m fold in 40 years

5. $ 100 trillions
Qatar (57/190) GDP 98 trillions
$ 100 trillions
Qatar (57/190) GDP 98 trillions
COST
iPad2: in 2010, 1600 MIPS = $ 100

6. Three limits
to the speed
of growth of
data:
-
thermodynamic
s
- intelligence
- memory.

7. Acquisition/Storage
Usability
Security/Safety
Analytics
Accessibility
Law/Ethics
Costs

8. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

9.  No ICTs
 Individual and social well-
being
related to ICT
 Individual and social well-
being
dependent on ICT
Those who live by the digit, die by the digit.Those who live by the digit, die by the digit.

10. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

11. Enveloping the world (data-fication)
without fully realising it.
In robotics, an
envelope (also known
as reach envelop) is the
three-dimensional
space that defines the
boundaries that the
robot can reach.
In recent years, the world has been
adapting to smart technologies.

12. Dishwasher vs. Humanoid RobotDishwasher vs. Humanoid Robot

13. Past: enveloping a stand-alone
phenomenon (e.g. factory).
Past: enveloping a stand-alone
phenomenon (e.g. factory).
Future: enveloping the en
as an ICT-friendly infosphere.
Future: enveloping the env
as an ICT-friendly infosphere.

14. Inside the computerInside the computer
Back inside
Outside the computer

15. 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
22.5
20
17.5
15
12.5
10
7.5
5
2.5
0
Ca. 21% EU pop. used a laptop to access
internet, wireless, away from home/work.
Ca. 21% EU pop. used a laptop to access
internet, wireless, away from home/work.

16. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

17. Robust, cumulative, progressively refining.Robust, cumulative, progressively refining.

18. Memory outperforms intelligence even
if syntactic engines need semantic ones.
Memory outperforms intelligence even
if syntactic engines need semantic ones.

19. We are not immobile, at the centre of the universe
(Copernicus).
We are not unnaturally detached and diverse from the
rest of the animal world (Darwin).
We are not Cartesian subjects entirely transparent to
ourselves (Freud).
We are not disconnected agents, but
informational organisms (inforgs),
sharing with biological and engineered
agents an environment which is
basically informational (infosphere).
(Turing).

20. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

21. Information society: intellectual, intangible
assets (knowledge-based economy),
information-intensive services (business and
property services, finance and insurance),
public sectors (especially education, public
administration and health care).

23. Total world wealth = 2011, $ 231 trillion,
$33.000 pp.
Advertisement = 2011, $ 498bn (ca. half a
trillion)
Military = 2010, $ 1.74 trillion
Entertainment and media = 2010, ca. $ 2
trillion
Health = 2010, $ 6.5 trillion
ICTs = 2010 $ 3 trillion
Finland GDP = 2012, 212bn
Sources: The Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2011; Nielsen Global AdView
Pulse Q4 2011; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Military

24. We can no longer unplug our world from
ICTs without turning it off.
We can no longer unplug our world from
ICTs without turning it off.

25. We often work as interfaces between technologies.We often work as interfaces between technologies.

26. ICT may easily and rightly make us redundant.
However, this may mean more self-service.
ICT may easily and rightly make us redundant.
However, this may mean more self-service.

27. Distrib. of BLS 2010 occupation employment over
the prob. of computerisation. Area = US emp.
Source: C. B. Frey and M. A. Osborne, The Future of Employment:
How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation? 2013.
Distrib. of BLS 2010 occupation employment over
the prob. of computerisation. Area = US emp.
Source: C. B. Frey and M. A. Osborne, The Future of Employment:
How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation? 2013.

28. Comp. threatens one third of Finnish Jobs
Source: M. Pajarinen, P. Rouvinen, ETLA, Brief, January 2014.
Comp. threatens one third of Finnish Jobs
Source: M. Pajarinen, P. Rouvinen, ETLA, Brief, January 2014.

29. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

30. Software substitution, whether it’s for drivers or waiters
or nurses… is progressing, […] Technology over time
will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end
of skill set… 20 years from now, labor demand for lots of
skill sets will be substantially lower. I don’t think people
have that in their mental model.
Bill Gates, Talk at the American
Enterprise Institute, March
2014.

31. The increase of technical efficiency has been taking
place faster than we can deal with the problem of labour
absorption […] We are being afflicted with a new
disease of which some readers may not yet have heard
the name, but of which they will hear a great deal in the
years to come - namely, technological unemployment.
This means unemployment due to our discovery of
means of economising the use of labour outrunning the
pace at which we can find new uses for labour.
John Maynard Keynes,
Economic Possibilities for our
Grandchildren 1930.

32. Personal consumption expenditure: package tours
Shaded areas indicate US recessions
Source: US Dep. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2013.
Personal consumption expenditure: package tours
Shaded areas indicate US recessions
Source: US Dep. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2013.

33. Strategies for the future
Education
R&D
Inequality
Leisure
Infraethics

35. From medical discovery to medical practice
Source: The Fourth Paradigm, 2013-2014
From medical discovery to medical practice
Source: The Fourth Paradigm, 2013-2014

36. Lost in Translation?
A + B = main mechanism for economic growth.
C = not the problem, more R&D does not
translate into growth without B.
Problem = underused (low) intellectual capital,
why?
Econo
micgr
owth
Econo
micgr
owth
Marke
ting
busin
ess
Marke
ting
busin
ess
R&D
innov
ation
R&D
innov
ation
A B
C

37. A Vicious Circle
Time
Untransla
ted

38. “Volkswagen with €9.5bn invested in
R&D leads the world R&D ranking.
In second place is Samsung
Electronics (€8.3bn).”
“EU-based companies outperformed
the R&D growth of their US
counterparts in Industrial Engineering
(12.3% vs. 9.4%) and Aerospace &
Defence (9.5% vs. -1.3%).”

39. Internationalisation motivates not only R&D but
also Translation, cf. Germany’s automobile
industry.
Internationalisation not a panacea but a good
example of “right environment”.
What can be done (e.g. for SME)?

40. The State as an environmental force for
innovation:
1) The State as a agent: investments with high
capital intensity, high risks, longer time.
2) The State an ecosystem: provide the human
(education) physical (infrastructure), and social
(law, finance) conditions that make R&D more
attractive and translatable.

41. The design of a R&D-friendly ecosystem can be
successful only if it is shaped by all stakeholders,
especially the R&D and business agents that are
expected to flourish in such environment.

42. Outline
•Technology: power, costs, and data
•Time: hyperhistory
•Space: infosphere
•Humanity: the fourth revolution
•Agency: lost jobs, new jobs
•The Human Project: R&D as a strategy
•Conclusion

43. Being able to see what the future will be like and
what adaptive demands smart technologies will
place on humanity is vital in order to devise
solutions that can lower their costs and increase
their benefits.
Being able to see what the future will be like and
what adaptive demands smart technologies will
place on humanity is vital in order to devise
solutions that can lower their costs and increase
their benefits.

44. Human intelligent design should play a major role
in shaping the future of our interactions with
forthcoming smart artefacts.
After all, it is a sign of intelligence to make
stupidity work for you.
Human intelligent design should play a major role
in shaping the future of our interactions with
forthcoming smart artefacts.
After all, it is a sign of intelligence to make
stupidity work for you.

45. ICT, THE FUTURE OF JOBS,
AND THE HUMAN PROJECT
Luciano Floridi
Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information
Director of Research
OII, University of Oxford