Human Agency Research Articles

Thinking with traces: A posthumanist reading of human and nonhuman agencies in Zhu Yingchun’s The Language of Bugs

The Language of Bugs by Zhu Yingchun (2018) is an art book wavering between the linguistic and the bodily, visual arts and literature. Consisting of thousands of traces left on paper by real-life insects and their bodily movements, it does not contain any text traditionally readable for humans, but claims to be a book written entirely in the language of insects. The traces indicate nonhuman agency for the insects and present writing and literature as subjects of nonhuman actions and messy interspecies collaboration. At the same time, the book rises questions on insect “language” and the possibility of ethical representation originating from a very human point-of-experience. In this article, I reflectively explore different crossings of human and nonhuman agencies in The Language of Bugs, as well as how the book engages with questions of representation and materiality, writing and literature in the framework of posthumanist reading. I analyse the book as participating in the attempt to notice more-than-human ways of being in literature and culture, which are traditionally only perceived through human agency. The context of my reading is threat posed by ecological crises and especially the decline in insect populations for the future of the planet. I argue that Zhu Yingchun’s book represents a wider shift in thinking about the natural world and humans’ place in it. Ultimately, the book articulates one very basic question: can literature widen to include traces of nonhuman movements?

The predictable and disabling society: artificial intelligence and changing human agency

Peut-on parler d’intelligence, d’intentionnalité et d’agence lorsqu’on observe les interactions d’un agent artificiel orienté par des algorithmes ? Et comment l’interaction d’un agent artificiel modifie-t-elle l’agence de l’être humain ? Partant de la “théorie de l’exonération” postulée par l’anthropologie philosophique et l’intégrant à la théorie relationnelle, nous examinerons dans cette recherche les effets déterminés par l’interaction asymétrique entre l’être humain et l’algorithme. Ce dernier, pour être efficace en termes de résultats prédictifs, doit rendre l’environnement stable et le comportement humain prévisible. Mais une société prévisible est contre-productive et handicapante pour l’être humain sur le plan relationnel. L’être humain doit donc changer sa perspective relationnelle avec l’IA, en évaluant de manière réflexive non seulement les résultats positifs/négatifs, mais aussi les aspects facilitateurs/ incapacitants.

Objective metrics for ethical AI: a systematic literature review

AbstractThe field of AI Ethics has recently gained considerable attention, yet much of the existing academic research lacks practical and objective contributions for the development of ethical AI systems. This systematic literature review aims to identify and map objective metrics documented in literature between January 2018 and June 2023, specifically focusing on the ethical principles outlined in the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. The review was based on 66 articles retrieved from the Scopus and World of Science databases. The articles were categorized based on their alignment with seven ethical principles: Human Agency and Oversight, Technical Robustness and Safety, Privacy and Data Governance, Transparency, Diversity, Non-Discrimination and Fairness, Societal and Environmental Well-being, and Accountability. Of the identified articles, only a minority presented objective metrics to assess AI ethics, with the majority being purely theoretical works. Moreover, existing metrics are primarily concentrating on Diversity, Non-Discrimination and Fairness, with a clear under-representation of the remaining principles. This lack of practical contributions makes it difficult for Data Scientists to devise systems that can be deemed Ethical, or to monitor the alignment of existing systems with current guidelines and legislation. With this work, we lay out the current panorama concerning objective metrics to quantify AI Ethics in Data Science and highlight the areas in which future developments are needed to align Data Science projects with the human values widely posited in the literature.

Exploring the determinants of disaster and climate resilience building in Zimbabwe’s rural communities

AbstractWith the burgeoning threats from natural hazards and extreme weather events driven by climate change in every section and sector of society, building resilience against disasters and risks posed by climate change has become an unescapable discourse. The study’s main thrust is to establish the determinants of resilience building in Zimbabwe’s rural communities. The study adopted the qualitative constructivist grounded theory approach in conjunction with participatory action research to gain insights from community members and traditional leaders. A total of forty-six participants from Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe participated in the study. The findings revealed that the availability of natural and human resources, collective efficacy, government and development agency support systems, indigenous knowledge systems, and livelihood diversification were crucial determinants of resilience building for rural communities in Zimbabwe. The identified determinants for resilience building signal that these determinants need to be harnessed to inform policy and practice interventions. Furthermore, the availability of the identified determinants implies that rural communities can minimise, and prevent losses, reduce exposure to natural hazards, disasters and climate change risks and manage the impacts of natural hazards whenever they emerge. The study recommends that these determinants be complemented by access to technology, resilient community infrastructures, robust social protection systems, and hazard risk assessment participatory processes by rural communities. In addition, effective emergency and health services, among other contingent measures essential to improve community resilience.

The dark side of AI in professional services

ABSTRACT The introduction and widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence in the professions has the potential to deliver a number of critical public goods, such as widening access to justice and healthcare through AI-powered professional services. Yet, the deployment of AI in the professions does not come without challenges, exemplified by the concerns about explainability, privacy, and human agency. In this paper, we explore how these issues may give rise to dark sides of AI in professional services and illustrate how an uncoordinated process of adoption and deployment can threaten the scope of AI-powered services. In particular, we illustrate how the adoption and deployment of AI in services may undermine the fiduciary duty between clients and professionals that, so far, has safeguarded the relationship between them, creating a ‘market for lemons’ of professional services. We conclude with a reflection on plausible ways forward to facilitate and smooth the transition to AI-powered services.

Popular Catholicism Puerto Rican Style: The Virgin of Rincón, Human Agency, and Miracles

In the past, popular Catholicism in Latin America and the Caribbean was perceived with suspicion by liberation theologians and official Roman Catholicism for its eccentricities, lack of doctrinal coherence, and fears of syncretism with folk religions. Nowadays, popular Catholicism in Latin America and the Caribbean has been a source of theological reflection, ecumenism, and religious revitalization. The apparition of the Holy Mother in 1953 at barrio Rincón in Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, is a case study in global Catholicism that exemplifies this turn to see popular Catholicism as a source of liberation, perseverance, and deep spiritual devotion by the faithful. Using cultural, social, and reception historiography, the article argues that the Puerto Rican faithful were not passive recipients of the literary narratives of journalists covering the events as narrated by the main protagonists, the children/seers, but rather themselves formulators of history through their reception and participation. This is demonstrated by the allegiances of the faithful to popular Catholicism and their rejection of the official mandates of the clergy to ignore the events taking place at barrio Rincón regarding the apparition of the Virgin.

Towards an explanatory critique of social reality: how critical realism can frame the application of critical discourse analysis in educational research

ABSTRACT Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is known for its capacity to reveal ideology reproduced through discourse, but when applied to educational research, its focus on mere language constrains its utility for understanding and improving social reality. In this paper, through the example of a textbook study, we explore how CDA can be strengthened by critical realism. As a theory of ontology and epistemology, critical realism seeks to explain how causal mechanisms in society constrain and enable the emergence of human agency. As a practical framework, it can offer a research design for the textbook study, featured by a stratified ontology, a dialectic epistemology and a methodological requirement for self-reflexivity. Such a design can overcome the limitations of positivism and interpretivism. It can enable CDA to demonstrate both criticalness and a higher level of explanatory power, with the potential to identify real (rather than Utopian) possibilities for human emancipation.

Understanding in mathematics: The case of mathematical proofs

AbstractAlthough understanding is the object of a growing literature in epistemology and the philosophy of science, only few studies have concerned understanding in mathematics. This essay offers an account of a fundamental form of mathematical understanding: proof understanding. The account builds on a simple idea, namely that understanding a proof amounts to rationally reconstructing its underlying plan. This characterization is fleshed out by specifying the relevant notion of plan and the associated process of rational reconstruction, building in part on Bratman's theory of planning agency. It is argued that the proposed account can explain a significant range of distinctive phenomena commonly associated with proof understanding by mathematicians and philosophers. It is further argued, on the basis of a case study, that the account can yield precise diagnostics of understanding failures and can suggest ways to overcome them. Reflecting on the approach developed here, the essay concludes with some remarks on how to shape a general methodology common to the study of mathematical and scientific understanding and focused on human agency.

Emotional Natives: The Role of Prey-Animal Ontologies in Equine-Assisted Personal Development

Abstract In the psychological literature on the efficacy of equine-assisted therapies, it is common to read that horses are suitable for such work because of their evolutionary inheritance as “prey-animals,” making them highly attuned to the emotional states of others. Yet this assertion is rarely questioned. This article explores prey-animal ontologies within an ethnographic study of an Equine-Assisted Personal Development (EAPD) center in England, and how they helped facilitate client interpretations of individual horse behaviors. I argue that in this EAPD, prey-animal ontologies constructed horses as highly skilled “emotional natives” with significant, almost deistic powers. In some ways this was progressively relational. However, in other ways, it inscribed a problematic anthropocentrism, with the horse conceived as almost permanently in response to human agency. Moreover, it was sometimes empirically difficult to sustain. Prey-animality, then, in EAPD, both challenges and reinforces human power relations with horses in complex ways.

Human Agency and the Technoscientific Dilemma: Contesting the Role of Technology in Shaping our Collective Futures

The launch of ChatGPT created a tidal wave of interest, rapid uptake of the app and a surge of capital investment. It quickly became clear that what was now being called ‘generative AI’ would have multiple impacts and implications across the board. The paper begins by outlining aspects of the context from which these innovations arose. They include Neoliberalism and the ‘playbook’ of careless, ‘non-legal’ innovation that occurred during the early rise of social media platforms. The paper also critiques Silicon Valley, both for its one-sided culture and its obsession with marketing. It specifically draws attention to the characteristics and limitations of ‘technoscientific’ outlooks and the way they conceal, or edit out, key aspects of human existence. A summary of the attributes of technoscience suggests a number of possible responses. Behind these, however, is a widely ignored dilemma - the proposition that a continuation of further stages of high-tech innovation benefits the human enterprise. Yet many high-tech developments are unambiguously sociopathic. They project extreme danger and dysfunction out onto innocent people and unprepared social environments. The paper summarises recent attempts to come to terms with a radically transformed, technology saturated environment and concludes with suggestions for enhancing human agency.

Advancements in predictive analytics: A philosophical and practical overview

Advancements in predictive analytics: A philosophical and practical overview

Preserving paradata for accountability of semi-autonomous AI agents in dynamic environments: An archival perspective

This paper proposes the category of real-time artificial intelligence (AI) systems as applications of computerized control systems in dynamic, time-constrained contexts normally managed by human intelligence. Noting the accountability challenges which these systems introduce, the paper posits the need for robust documentation and records capacities within these systems. The paper surveys four real-time AI systems with significant records needs: autonomous vehicles, online content targeting systems, mixed-reality tools for surgical contexts, and digital twin systems in airport facilities management. The paper identifies paradata, or the data leading up to an output in a system's operation, as a key data category necessitating preservation for full transparency in the records generated by these systems. Paradata is defined as “information about the procedure(s) and tools used to create and process information resources, along with information about the persons carrying out those procedures.” Paradata uncovers opaque technological processes underlying the production of other datasets and at a granular level must be identified and preserved to delineate the boundaries between human and system agency in semi-autonomous systems. With a basis in control theory, the paper finally offers a framework for assessing the functions of real-time AI systems' operations and their documentation and records needs.

Role Of Village Capacity Building In Increasing Original Village Income From The Tourism Sector: A Case Study Of Organization Output

This study aimed to determine the impact of capacity-building activities through Tourism Village training and assistance to alums of the Tourism Village training conducted by the Human Resources Development Agency and Empowerment of Village Communities, Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, Indonesia, on increasing village original income. Village community training and assistance activities are one of the tasks of the Human Resources Development Agency and Empowerment of Village Communities Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration (HRDA), through training centres spread across nine work areas throughout Indonesia. The tasks and functions of training and mentoring have been carried out as primary tasks. Still, so far, no evaluation has explicitly reviewed the impact of capacity building in the tourism village sector with specific indicators, namely increasing original village income (OVI) at the locus of training and mentoring at the HRDA. This research was conducted to see the impact of capacity building on increasing the original village income, which is the primary goal of carrying out the duties and functions of the organization, namely developing the capacity of village communities, underdeveloped regions and transmigration to create prosperous, advanced and independent village communities. This study used a qualitative method by collecting data through questionnaires, training implementation reports and interviews with key informants. Data were analyzed using the descriptive analysis method.

Balancing Act: Exploring the Interplay Between Human Judgment and Artificial Intelligence in Problem-solving, Creativity, and Decision-making

This study explores the repercussions of excessive reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) on human cognitive processes, specifically targeting problem-solving, creativity, and decision-making. Employing qualitative semi-structured interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), it delves into the nuanced challenges and risks stemming from an overemphasis on AI. The research illuminates a nuanced landscape: while AI streamlines problem-solving tasks and provides valuable support, there’s a crucial need to safeguard human judgment and intuition. In the realm of creativity, divergent viewpoints emerge, underscoring concerns regarding AI’s potential limitations and advocating for a harmonious interplay between AI-generated suggestions and individual creative thought. Regarding decision-making, participants recognize AI’s utility but underscore the necessity of blending AI insights with critical thinking and consideration of unique circumstances. They caution against complacency, advocating for a judicious equilibrium between AI guidance and individual expertise. This study innovates by providing multifaceted insights into the complexities of AI-human interaction, uncovering nuanced perspectives on its impacts across problem-solving, creativity, and decision-making domains. By bridging this gap, it advances understanding of how AI integration influences cognitive processes, offering practical implications for fostering a balanced approach. Its innovative methodology combines qualitative interviews and IPA, offering rich, nuanced data that provide a deeper understanding of the subject matter. This research serves as a beacon for promoting awareness of the risks associated with overreliance on AI, advocating for a mindful integration that upholds human agency while leveraging AI capabilities effectively.

Towards Trustworthy Autonomous Systems via Conversations and Explanations

Autonomous systems fulfil an increasingly important role in our societies, however, AI-powered systems have seen less success over the years, as they are expected to tackle a range of social, legal, or technological challenges and modern neural network-based AI systems cannot yet provide guarantees to many of these challenges. Particularly important is that these systems are black box decision makers, eroding human oversight, contestation, and agency. To address this particular concern, my thesis focuses on integrating social explainable AI with cognitive methods and natural language processing to shed light on the internal processes of autonomous systems in a way accessible to lay users. I propose a causal explanation generation model for decision-making called CEMA based on counterfactual simulations in multi-agent systems. I also plan to integrate CEMA with a broader natural language processing pipeline to support targeted and personalised explanations that address people's cognitive biases. I hope that my research will have a positive impact on the public acceptance of autonomous agents by building towards more trustworthy AI.

Muslim Women’s Activism in Indian Politics

Triple talaq, or instant divorce, is a contentious Islamic legal practice that permits a husband to end a marriage by swiftly repeating the word "talaq" (divorce) three times. Discussions on this practice have been triggered by legal, social, and gender views. Legally speaking, there has been much debate over the legitimacy and constitutionality of Triple Talaq. Some contend that it is a basic freedom guaranteed by religious liberty, while others see it as discriminatory and against the rights of women. In this continuing debate, the Indian Supreme Court's historic ruling in 2017 that declared Triple Talaq illegal was a major turning point. Triple Talaq has significant social ramifications for women's empowerment and family dynamics. Critics contend that it exposes women to financial and emotional risk, which frequently results in poverty and social exclusion. On the other hand, advocates argue that it offers a quick fix for unworkable marriages, even if it comes at the price of women's independence. The intricacies underlying Triple Talaq are further clarified by gender viewpoints. Some contend that it upholds unequal power dynamics in marriages and patriarchal traditions, while others say that human agency and cultural factors need to be taken into account. It takes a sophisticated examination of overlapping elements like human rights, tradition, and religion to fully comprehend Triple Talaq. This paper examines the complexities of the Triple Talaq dispute and emphasizes the need for all encompassing strategies that take into account its legal, social, and gender dimensions. The paper examines two cases of Muslim women’s activism in defiance of triple talaq.

Crisis and performance: A contingency approach to performance indicators

This article addresses a gap in crisis research regarding scientifically produced knowledge on performance measurement during crisis for practitioners, by developing eleven crisis performance indicators from a content analysis of 40 interviews with Swedish crisis professionals. Using these as a point of departure, the article offers a critical take on the current mode of crisis inquiry by suggesting the term contingency as an alternative lens to benefit crisis theory and practice. Our empirical analysis shows that crisis performance evaluation leans toward rationalized control rather than contingent thinking. In the discussion, we critically assess the performance indicators from a contingency perspective, highlighting their inherent ambiguities and emphasizing the need to advance ways of thinking about crisis management beyond rules and standard procedures. The study underlines the importance of recognizing limits of human agency and integrating contingency in the mindset of crisis professionals. This would enable crisis professionals to act beyond anticipated and perceived practices and regulations when adapting to unexpected events and provide them with more purposeful indicators to be evaluated against.

Why, Instead of Doing Nothing, do we Work? A Cultural-Psychological Essay on the Foundations of the Purpose of Working.

This essay aims to discuss the meaning and purpose of work by adopting an approach in cultural psychology that emphasizes the centrality of the meaning-making process. The central thesis of the paper is to demonstrate that the meaning and purpose of work is a paradox. On the one hand, work represents a set of actions of the human agent for producing things. That is to say, the purpose of work is located outside of it. On the other hand, work is an activity in itself, carried out as a way of developing human potentialities. In this case, the purpose of the actions performed at work coincides with the result of working (developing human potentialities). The paradox arises because, in current work conditions, the unity of human agency represented by these two dimensions of work is fragmented, meaning that not all forms of work permit the convergence among purposes, actions, and the results of these actions. We analyze how some cultural markers, which are products of the process of meaning-making of the human agent in culture, suggest dealing with this paradox. We explore its limits and propose the need for new cultural markers capable of reaffirming the integrality of the human agent at work.

Neuropower and plastic writing: Stiegler and Malabou on generative AI

A leading critic of the disruptive force of technology in education, Bernard Stiegler saw the counter-effects of artificial intelligence in undermining human agency, autonomy and individuality, rendering the role of education ever more critical. Stiegler believes that our goal is not to abandon technology but to focus our attention on its power and direction in a hypercapitalist economy. While he did not foresee the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), its rapid acceleration raises important issues for his notion of digital writing as a pharmakon. In this essay, we examine Stiegler’s view on intelligence, digital writing, technological memory, and neuropower, focusing specifically on his Shanghai lecture and Nanjing Lectures. We compare Stiegler with Catherine Malabou, who examines the nature of intelligence primarily through the lens of neuroscience. We argue that Malabou’s view of neuroplasticity in human and artificial brains, and her critique of techno-narcissism in the control over technology, add an important dimension to Stiegler’s political critique of education. Finally, we examine how best to construe AI as part of a hyper-materialist epistemology that Stiegler espouses in the conclusion of his Nanjing Lectures, to bring about neganthropic knowledge through a therapeutics of care.

Safely balancing a double-edged blade: identifying and mitigating emerging biosecurity risks in precision medicine.

Tools and methods of precision medicine are developing rapidly, through both iterative discoveries enabled by innovations in biomedical research (e.g., genome editing, synthetic biology, bioengineered devices). These are strengthened by advancements in information technology and the increasing body of data-as assimilated, analyzed, and made accessible-and affectable-through current and emerging cyber-and systems- technologies. Taken together, these approaches afford ever greater volume and availability of individual and collective human data. Machine learning and/or artificial intelligence approaches are broadening this dual use risk; and in the aftermath of COVID-19, there is growing incentive and impetus to gather more biological data from individuals and their environments on a routine basis. By engaging these data-and the interventions that are based upon them, precision medicine offer promise of highly individualized treatments for disease and injury, optimization of structure and function, and concomitantly, the potential for (mis) using data to incur harm. This double-edged blade of benefit and risk obligates the need to safeguard human data from purloinment, through systems, guidelines and policies of a novel discipline, cyberbiosecurity, which, as coupled to ethical precepts, aims to protect human privacy, agency, and safety in ways that remain apace with scientific and technological advances in biomedicine. Herein, current capabilities and trajectories precision medicine are described as relevant to their dual use potential, and approaches to biodata security (viz.- cyberbiosecurity) are proposed and discussed.