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Giving Meaning to Technological Artifacts in One's Life: An Aspect of Personal Autonomy in a Technological Society
1National Institute of Technology, Kurume College, Kurume City, Japan. shinnya01234567@gmail.com.
Abstract:
In today's world, where advanced technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping human society, how can individuals' autonomy in the use of such technology be understood? This paper focuses on the meanings of technological artifacts in individuals' lives-that is, the subjective interpretation of their function within one's plan for use-and attempts to formalize a set of human capacities to actively give meaning to technological artifacts as a form of personal autonomy. This study shows that this set of capacities includes the capacity to recognize the functions of a given technology, the capacity to plan a practical activity using the technology to achieve a desirable existence, and the capacity to actually conduct the activity. These findings are applied and examined in an example involving the improvement of call center operators' work using AI.
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