Presentation for the VINT event "The Pursuit of Digital Happiness"

1. Happiness Onlife
Luciano Floridi
Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information, University of Oxford
Director, Digital Ethics Lab, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Faculty Fellow, Chair of the Data Ethics Group, The Alan Turing Institute
@Floridi | luciano.floridi@oii.ox.ac.uk

2. “to cleave”
a) “to split or sever something”, especially
along a natural line or grain;
b) “to stick fast or adhere strongly to”
something.
a) Old English cleofan, related to the German
klieben (to cut through);
b) Old English clifian, related to the
German kleben (to stick or cling).

3. Digital’s cleaving power
Cut and Paste

4. presence ≠ location

5. law ≠ territoriality

6. ownership ≠ usage

7. agency ≠ intelligence

8. production ++ consumption

9. authenticity + memory = blockchain

10. information + identity = data subject

11. offline + online = onlife

12. presence ≠ location
law ≠ territoriality
ownership ≠ usage
agency ≠ intelligence
production ++ consumption
authenticity + memory
analog + digital
Information + identity

13. Happy onlife?

14. analog + digital = infosphere

15. eudamonia in the infosphere

16. Risks: escapism (absence), absorption
attention), alienation (distraction).

17. Opportunities: empowerment and
ontrol, enrichment and fulfillment.

18. Digital’s cleaving power

19. many stones, plenty of design

20. design for onlife eudamonia

21. Invention

22. Discovery

23. Design

24. Innovation
[discovery]
[invention]
design

25. Pandora’s box: hope

26. The Human Project
• Capitalism ≠ Consumerism
• Capitalism + Fostering
• Firms as Good Citizens
• Firms as Political Agents for Good

27. The digital age is
the age of design.
It should be the age
of good design.

28. THANK YOU
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slides for non-commercial, educational and personal purposes only. Use of any
copyrighted material is not authorized without the written consent of the copyright holder.
Every effort has been made to respect the copyrights of other parties. If you believe that
your copyright has been misused, please direct your correspondence to:
luciano.floridi@oii.ox.ac.uk stating your position and I shall endeavour to correct any
misuse.
@Floridi | luciano.floridi@oii.ox.ac.uk