Digital governance, operationalized by technologies such as blockchain and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), constitutes a phenomenon that redefines fundamental philosophical concepts for collective life. This article undertakes a systematic philosophical analysis of this phenomenon, structured around foundational conceptual problems. We begin from four axes of inquiry: (1) the ontological problem of the nature of code-based entities; (2) the epistemic problem of trust and knowledge in algorithmic systems; (3) the normative problem of authority, legitimacy, and justice in automated governance; and (4) the logical problem of the limits of normative formalization. The analysis demonstrates that these problems materialize at the necessary intersection of philosophy with computer science, law, and economics. It concludes that digital governance is, in essence, a philosophical enterprise, whose responsible development demands prior conceptual clarity regarding the nature of collective agency, the foundations of trust, the embedding of values into code, and the structural limits of automating social normativity.
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Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
Today, digitalisation is penetrating every corner of our mundane life, thus affecting our being in manifold ways. In spite of this, digital technologies provide us with paths towards advancing humanity. One way to model the possibilities of the new technologies in a sustainable way is to frame them in light of Gilbert Simondon’s philosophy and especially his understanding of ‘transindividuality’, which is the foundation for a robust, evolving collective. The transindividual relation, mediated by technical objects, is the possibility of a concurrent problem-solving at the collective and individual level. One of these new technologies, blockchain, a decentralised peer-to-peer database, practically demonstrates a complex system that can cultivate this transindividuality. Although not without its flaws, blockchain nonetheless presents a serious innovation for collective being.