In contemporary society going offline is not an option anymore: with photos and videos we share our and others’ lives on social media and an ever-creasing number of devices is becoming part of the internet, i.e. ‘the Internet of Things’ (IoT). Humankind has never lived in a society in which so many data are saved. The last generation that can still distinguish between on- and offline is living today and will disappear.
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Dr. Katleen Gabriels is a moral philosopher, specialized in computer ethics. She discusses the implications of IoT, our online behavior and other examples of the onlife society. Does technological progress also imply ethical progress? Are engineers responsible for the consequences of their innovative creations?
Dr. Katleen Gabriels works as an Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, where she teaches technology ethics and philosophy. From January 2019 onwards she will work full-time as an Assistant Professor at Maastricht University. She investigates the relationship between technology and morality, in particular the ethical consequences of computer technology. In 2016 her book Onlife was published (in Dutch), in which she analyzes the potential and pitfalls of the Internet of Things, digitization and big data.