On January 20, 2025, Big Tech visibly entered the political arena of the United States in the form of Elon Musk being appointed as head of DOGE. Musk is co-founder and CEO of many companies that introduced revolutionizing technologies: OpenAI, SpaceX, Starlink, Neuralink, Tesla, PayPal and X. These technologies have a deep impact on our world, from the level of global politics (ie: the role of Starlink in the war in Ukraine) to the individual level (ie: bodily enhancements via Neuralink). While the president of the USA is giving Big Tech free rein, voices in the EU–by contrast–are calling for regulation of Big Tech companies to curb their power and influence in society. Consequently, the EU is at risk of tech companies leaving Europe, thereby losing the ability of influencing technological development, with the subsequent danger to start lagging behind technologically in an increasingly tumultuous world.
Is the only choice one between either embracing Big Tech or disregarding technological developments all together because of its dangers? No: we believe there is a constructive middle way. But it is a middle way that requires thorough research and reflection.
Need for a New Ethical Approach
Ongoing research and reflection is needed, because the challenges we face today differ from the technological challenges we faced in the 20th century. But–and no less important–our culture has also changed. We have changed the way we interact with each other, relate to institutions or religion and form communities.
A consequentialist ethics that looks only at the immediate impact of technology proves insufficient in addressing the new technological challenges in our changed (global) society. We need a new ethical approach that fosters our human responsibility and enables us to act on it.
The challenges we face require a collective approach where we as human beings act on the knowledge and agency we were given by God. Too often religion has falsely been accused of being the brake on technological progress. We believe that Christian faith has inspired researchers in the past to explore the potential of God’s creation and that this faith can inspire us today to positively engage the questions regarding technology. But we cannot continue to do so with the idea that technology is something neutral and separate from other domains of human life or culture. Technology is related to the human condition and we must reflect on it as such. Not only as individuals, but also as members of communities, as members of culture and as people of faith.
An Ethics of Responsibility
The middle way is thus not merely a process of academic reflection but also involves the human moral communities, culture and religion. We need a responsibility ethics that exceeds individual morality or juridical accountability and focuses on the responsibility given to humanity to protect life and to aid its flourishing.
An ethics of responsibility is not naively optimistic about the future, nor is it based on fear of the future. Instead, a responsibility ethics is hope without naivety and faith that corresponds with the totality of reality. We need to know where we want to go to (or believe we are called to go to) and find ways to act accordingly together in the present.
A Dutch version of this blog has been published on the website of our valorization partner Stichting voor Christelijke Filosofie, and can be accessed through this link.
