How Freedom is Undermined by Advanced Technology and What to Do About It

Abstract

This paper will provide a three-part analysis to demonstrate that automated decision-making systems (ADMS), representing advanced technologies, can and do undermine our freedom. The analysis will assess their impact on our freedom with three perspectives of how freedom can be defined. Based on each perspective, the paper will address how the encroachment to our freedom can be mitigated, preserved or regained. The three-part analysis will focus on Charles Taylor’s concept of having autonomy to exercise control over one’s life; interference from the perspective of Philip Pettit’s concept of domination-antipower and Sharon Krause’s framing of the socially distributed character of human agency and how technological and human bias impacts freedom. This layered analysis captures the complex impact advanced technologies have on our freedom.