Steve Biko Center for Bioethics, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2024 Jul 23;30(4):31. doi: 10.1007/s11948-024-00496-y.
In this article, I interrogate whether the deployment and development of the Metaverse should take into account African values and modes of knowing to foster the uptake of this hyped technology in Africa. Specifically, I draw on the moral norms arising from the components of communal interactions and humanness in Afro-communitarianism to contend that the deployment of the Metaverse and its development ought to reflect core African moral values to foster its uptake in the region. To adequately align the Metaverse with African core values and thus foster its uptake among Africans, significant technological advancement that makes simulating genuine human experiences possible must occur. Additionally, it would be necessary for the developers and deployers to ensure that higher forms of spiritual activities can be had in the Metaverse to foster its uptake in Africa. Finally, I justify why the preceding points do not necessarily imply that the Metaverse will have a higher moral status than real life on the moral scale that can be grounded in Afro-communitarianism.
在本文中,我探讨了元宇宙的部署和发展是否应该考虑到非洲的价值观和认知模式,以促进这种备受炒作的技术在非洲的采用。具体来说,我借鉴了 Afro-communitarianism 中社区互动和人性化的组成部分所产生的道德规范,认为元宇宙的部署和发展应该反映核心的非洲道德价值观,以促进该技术在该地区的采用。为了使元宇宙与非洲的核心价值观充分保持一致,从而促进非洲人对其的接受,必须进行重大的技术进步,以实现对真实人类体验的模拟。此外,开发者和部署者有必要确保在元宇宙中能够进行更高形式的精神活动,以促进其在非洲的采用。最后,我还证明了为什么前面的观点并不一定意味着元宇宙在道德层面上比现实生活具有更高的地位,这种道德层面可以建立在 Afro-communitarianism 的基础上。