{"title":"The Importance of Dystopian Hypotheticals: Towards an Ethical Turn in Liberal Political Philosophy","authors":"A. Green","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2402","url":null,"abstract":"This paper argues that liberal philosophy underestimates the importance of political ethics, which I define as the question of how individual citizens should comport themselves politically under largely normal conditions. Using three case studies from popular dystopian science fiction as ‘intuition pumps’, I contend that the behaviour of such individuals, both discretely and collectively speaking, has significant causal potency when it comes to contemporary politics. Upon this basis, I diagnose as pathological the faith that liberal philosophers place in the power of institutional arrangements to curtail human behaviour. I conclude that liberal philosophy should embrace an ‘ethical turn’, in pursuit of which I make some indicative recommendations as to what such a development might comprise.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131455408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toby Walsh (2022) Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI. Collingwood: La Trobe University Press and Black Inc Books","authors":"Nicholas Korpela","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2677","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2677","url":null,"abstract":"Nicolas Korpela reviews Machines Behaving Badly by Toby Walsh","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"88 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132362309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What If Feminist Judgments Were Written on Earth 616? A Tale of Feminism and Science Fiction","authors":"Kritika Sharma","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2496","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2496","url":null,"abstract":"For at least three reasons, Marvel’s 2021 TV adaptation of its 1977 What If? series of comics seemed all too familiar to feminist legal scholars as a methodological exercise in alternative outcomes. This paper explores these reasons. It uses the specific example of the 1977 comics and the project on Feminist Judgments in International Law to argue that a focus on this interrelation could prove to be fruitful from a methodological perspective. Therefore, this paper highlights the intersection between these specific areas of science fiction and (international) feminist legal thought through their concomitant emphasis on contingency, inter-temporality and causality. Based on this, the paper analyses the nature of this correlation or cohesion and suggests that it offers a lens through which feminist legal tools can be viewed and further enhanced.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130959593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Future Law, the Power of Prediction, and the Disappearance of Time","authors":"R. Neuwirth","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2376","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2376","url":null,"abstract":"The human fascination with the art of predicting the future derives from the practical need to anticipate events to make adequate decisions. While science fiction has undoubtedly contributed greatly to this field, there are a large number of other forms of expression of the same desire to predict the future in almost every field of activity—from the arts to science, from technology to linguistics, and from artificial intelligence to magic—all of which constantly contribute to bringing the future closer to the present. However, there is one field that potentially has the greatest predictive power of them all: that is the field of law. To release this latent power of law, this article argues, a cognitive revolution has to take place, one that is related to the perception of time. Awareness about this cognitive change is dawning and is currently manifesting itself in a general trend derived from related trends of convergence in language and technology. These trends are captured by the rise of the rhetorical figures of oxymora and paradoxes, or so-called “essentially oxymoronic concepts,” that increasingly pervade all human activities. Over the course of time, these concepts appear to have shown the magical power of bringing opposites into closer contact and possibly transcending their apparent contradictions to create a new reality. Pondering the future role of law while considering the present perception of time based on the dichotomy of the past and the future, this article inquires how far oxymora and paradoxes such as science fiction and space-time indicate an acceleration, a gradual shrinking and even a possible disappearance of time (as we know it).","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"71 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130774298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leavides G. Domingo-Cabarrubias, D. Woodlock, Christopher Alexander, Mai Sato, Genevieve Grant, J. Weinberg
{"title":"The Role of Technology in Improving Access to Justice for Victims of Family Violence: Challenges and Opportunities","authors":"Leavides G. Domingo-Cabarrubias, D. Woodlock, Christopher Alexander, Mai Sato, Genevieve Grant, J. Weinberg","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2469","url":null,"abstract":"In Australia, domestic and family violence (DFV) is a major health and human rights issue. Technology is increasingly being recognised as an important tool to assist victims/survivors of DFV in accessing legal services, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology has been rapidly rolled out to assist victims/survivors obtain legal advice and protection orders, and to participate in judicial processes. This article focuses on the experiences of lawyers in Victoria who have been using technology as part of their work to support victims/survivors of DFV. Interviews with the lawyers reveal that while technology plays a crucial role in enhancing access to justice for victims of DFV, it can also present risks, particularly in view of perpetrators’ increasing use of technology to facilitate violence. Technology may also replicate the barriers already faced by many victims when seeking justice. These issues arise because, often, technology is not designed based on the needs of the victims/survivors. This article argues that to ensure the safety and security of DFV victims/survivors and to facilitate their access to justice, the development and design of technology must be victim-centric and trauma-informed.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130804537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Law in a ‘Simulated’ Universe: The Educative Value of the Metaphor","authors":"Chris Dent","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2342","url":null,"abstract":"There are challenges to teaching law and legal theory to law students in the new millennium. It is a digital world, and the assumptions and foundations of the law do not mesh well with the shifts in identities and communities that are now in evidence. The idea of our universe being a simulation can be used as a metaphor to engage with digital natives about the fundamental uncertainty in the relationship between the law and the individual. The law and the legal theories of even the twentieth century do not suit the fluidity of today’s youth. Considering the metaphor of a simulated reality offers a ‘hook’ for conversations around ‘proper conduct’ across multiple communities of identity. It is not Truth, as it all may be simulated; instead, the necessary uncertainty around the possibility allows challenges and acceptances without the need for harsh Enlightenment.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"215 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134308419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Rule of Law, Science Fiction, and Fears of Artificial Intelligence","authors":"P. Burgess","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2461","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, I consider how fears of the future operation and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the exercise of constitutional power and how the depiction of AI in science fiction may play a role in determining future conceptions of the Rule of Law. Through its role in limiting the exercise of arbitrary power, the Rule of Law plays a crucial role in society. Where popular Rule of Law conceptions were frequently shaped by their authors’ fears, the Rule of Law is a product of fear. The operation of AI in society is also tainted by fear. This fear is exacerbated by science fiction accounts that frequently portray AI as complicit in a dystopian future. This portrayal of AI’s role is capable of generating a state of fear in society that assists in priming society to accept a different form of the Rule of Law in the future. In other words, where contemporary ideas of the Rule of Law are shaped by fear, and where fear exists in relation to AI’s exercise of constitutional power (and where this is influenced by depictions of AI in science fiction), fears associated with AI’s exercise of power may shape future conceptions of the Rule of Law.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"32 6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127176395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managing the Risks of Peer-to-Peer Goods-Sharing","authors":"Sally Zhu","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2419","url":null,"abstract":"The peer-to-peer (P2P) goods-sharing economy has flourished into a significant economic sector. However, in the law of England and Wales, the existing legal mechanisms for managing risks to consumers, such as the Consumer Protection Act and Consumer Rights Act, are unsuitable for regulating risk in the P2P-sharing economy. Platform service providers have constructed their own risk-management systems through elaborate contracts, but these do not go far enough in protecting consumers. This paper argues that both legal and platform mechanisms face the same obstacles to scaling efficient risk management due to the atomistic way they approach risk relations. I propose that legal reforms should provide mandates on platforms to institute greater protections for their users by arranging insurance and bearing default risk.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130256398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Promise and Perils of International Human Rights Law for AI Governance","authors":"Anna Su","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2332","url":null,"abstract":"This article considers the benefits and pitfalls of international human rights law as a component of artificial intelligence (AI) governance initiatives. It argues that (1) human rights law can serve as an authoritative resource for providing definitions to highly contested terms such as fairness or equality, (2) it can be used to address the problem of international regulatory arbitrage, and (3) it provides a framework to hold public and private actors legally accountable. At the same time, the paper considers recent critiques of human rights law and its application to AI governance, such as (1) lack of effectiveness; (2) inability to effect structural change, and finally, (3) the problem of cooptation. The article argues that while there is room for international human rights in the realm of AI governance, we should look to it with tempered expectations as to its promises and limitations.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130982794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Technologies and Law Firms—An Uneasy Relationship: A European Perspective","authors":"Salvatore Caserta","doi":"10.5204/lthj.2246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5204/lthj.2246","url":null,"abstract":"The digitalization of law has become a mantra. Law firms across the globe have begun to invest in legal-tech solutions to maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly changing market of legal services providers. While for many this foresees a disruption in the dynamics of the legal field, law firms have proved relatively resilient to radical change. With few exceptions, law firms continue to practice law as usual, while adding a few innovative tools to their old work dynamics to increase efficiency and revenue. This paper takes stock of the state of the art of the digitalization of law firms in Denmark and Italy, two Continental European countries often understudied in terms of the sociology of the legal profession. After presenting the scholarship on new technologies and law firms, as well as the specificities of the Danish and Italian legal fields, by relying on qualitative interviews with key players of the legal-tech and law firm environment in both countries, the paper shows that both Danish and Italian law firms are reluctant to embrace technological change. The paper also identifies two factors that contribute to explain such reluctance on the part of law firms to fully digitalize their practices: 1) partnerships as the main organizational form of law firms, and 2) the inherent tension between the market-oriented, capitalistic nature of digital technologies and the professional nature of legal practice. The paper concludes by exploring the few Danish and Italian actors that are taking digital developments more seriously, showing that these are chiefly recently established legal-tech start-ups and medium-sized boutique law firms.","PeriodicalId":397638,"journal":{"name":"Law, Technology and Humans","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130827149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}