Hans Akkermans

Digital Humanism addresses the social, ethical, and policy-making issues of the ongoing worldwide digital transformation. As such, it is and aims to be global. Digital Humanism’s cultural, ethical, and philosophical roots are clearly (North)Western, as they directly refer to the (European) Renaissance Humanism and the (European/American) Enlightenment. These are undeniably important and valuable traditions; to be truly global, however, we must consider and include other important human-centered traditions in the world. One example, among many others, is African philosophy and ethics such as expressed in ubuntu. We are currently facing an unholy alliance of BigTech companies and governments in different countries trying to shape our digital future in a rather authoritarian way. As a response, we need to build such a concept of global citizenship that democratizes digital technologies and is founded on many different traditions that can help make the world a better place.