Forms of consciousness, Artificial Intelligence and new challenges for Sociology
Ángel Belzunegui-Eraso
methaodos.revista de ciencias sociales May 1, 2020 DOI: 10.17502/m.rcs.v8i1.350 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Inteligencia artificial Especismo Sociología Consciencia Tecnociencia |
| Key points | Argues that technoscientific advances in biotechnology, bioengineering, and artificial intelligence are generating new social realities, including a robotic and an antispeciesist form of consciousness, which may require humans to coexist with non-human subjects and objects. Proposes that sociology must develop new analytical dimensions and concepts to study these emerging entities and human relationships with them. |
Abstract
In this paper we discuss the emergence of new social realities in concomitance with the development of certain techno-scientific advances and, in particular, those with origins in biotechnology, bioengineering and Artificial Intelligence. These new social realities are materialised in the development of other forms of consciousness – one robotic and one antispeciesist – that may lead the human race to coexist with non-human subjects/objects and to the recognition of certain levels of emotional consciousness. This presents new challenges for all sciences, and specifically for sociology, since a need exists to incorporate new analytical dimensions and a new conceptualisation that extends the one already used to denote traditional forms of social interaction. In this article we advocate the need to investigate the field of emerging subjects/objects more decisively and to analyse the relationships human beings will need to establish with them in a society that is increasingly based on decisions taken by technoscience.