Theme introduction
Introduction to Theme III
Technical systems already reorganise the conditions under which people receive information, obtain resources, and become subject to decisions. Their lack of empathy does not remove the consequences borne by bodies, nor does their opacity dissolve the responsibility of those who build and govern them.
Chapter 7 grounds ethical evaluation in consequences rather than in presumed emotional resemblance. Chapter 8 follows dependence upon operations that remain partially unintelligible to their users and overseers. Chapter 9 presents the machine as an ethical interpellation because its efficacy forces a response before questions about technical subjectivity can be settled.
Symbolic risk arises within this asymmetry. Systems may alter human possibilities without understanding the lives they affect, while institutions may distribute accountability so widely that no actor appears responsible; the theme keeps responsibility attached to material effects and to the relations through which technical power becomes operative.
Theme chapters