Laudato Si’ and Augmented Reality - In Search of an Integral Ecology for the Digital Age
12 Pages Posted: 20 Dec 2017
Date Written: December 15, 2017
Abstract
This contributuion introduces the idea that the care for social and natural environment described by Pope Francis in the encyclical letter Laudato Si' must extend not only to the physical environment but also to the "onlife", the space in which digital information is interwoven with the real world.
The contribution argues that as man's cognitive experience of the world is influenced and shaped by digital technologies, the integral ecology approach to new technologies presented by Pope Francis in the encyclical letter offers a very important theoretical framework for a ethical and sustainable development of digital technologies. In particular by taking the example of an Augmented reality game application, Pokemon Go, and linking the themes of the encyclical letter with legal scholarship on responsibility for design-based regulation, the contribution argues that there is a need for applying the paradigm of integral ecology to the assessment of the environmental impact of digital technologies.
Keywords: Digital Ethics; Onlife; Augmented Reality; Behaviour Control; Design-based Regulation; Cybertheology; Data Governance
JEL Classification: K24; K10; Q51; Q55; P48
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation