Somnambulism is sleepwalking. Professor Langdon Winner coined the term technological somnambulism to describe the dangerously “unself-reflective” way we often interact with technology. Professor Winner laments our society’s lack of insightful discourse about the philosophy of technology. He claims that we tend to focus on how new technology works and the uses to which it can be put, but foolishly ignore how it adversely reshapes human activity.
Consider the automobile. We found this technology extremely useful, but in adopting it we were largely blind to its costs. A massive road system had to be built, accidental deaths and cardiovascular disease increased, burning fossil fuels caused environmental damage, local economies were devastated, and many forms of everyday human activity were restructured. Before, people had interacted with friends and neighbors as they walked or rode horses on the street, but cars dramatically reduced such human connections in everyday life.
Social media is another technology we embraced with lightning speed, but without adequate thought to its adverse impact on human interactions and society. Social media contributes to a forfeiture of data privacy, to anxiety, depression, and isolation, to body image problems, to increased suicide among teenagers… not to mention foreign meddling in U.S. elections, rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation, and a fracturing of civil discourse.
We could take a different approach to technology use and development. For example, Amish communities carefully evaluate new technologies instead of rejecting or automatically accepting them. Keeping in mind their primary ethical principle – a sense of community – the Amish adopt new technologies for a trial period. If the technology pushes the community apart, they reject it or adopt it on a limited basis. If the technology pulls them closer together, they adopt it.
For instance, the Amish found that a telephone in each home disrupted face-to-face interactions. So instead, they installed one phone in the center of the community for emergency situations. On the other hand, solar power aligns with their primary values, and the Amish are among the most rapid adopters of solar technology.
Technological somnambulism is more relevant than ever as artificial intelligence (AI) dramatically reshapes human activity around the world. Some experts worry that AI will cause the loss of millions of jobs, leaving many people without an income or a sense of purpose, and missing the community they enjoyed at work. Other experts fret about the deaths terrorists can cause with AI or the damage AI bias and accelerated hacking might inflict on society. And other experts worry about the possibility that AI itself could end human life on this planet altogether.
So, as Professor Winner argues, we must think deeply about the changes AI-based technologies are bringing, and not sleepwalk through the development or use of new technology. AI creators, government regulators, consumers, businesses and others must thoughtfully respond to technology. And we must also anticipate technological advances and act proactively to build a global society that we all want to live in.