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Acceptable digital technologies

I militate for an acceptable digital world: emancipatory, democratically chosen, ecologically and socially sustainable. On this page and throughout my articles (mainly in French), I explore the contours of this acceptable digital world.

Acceptable digital technology

Since "responsible" digital technology is a problematic oxymoron (read the dedicated article - in French), I proposed a more radical and more systemic concept: "acceptable" digital technology.

More radical, because the term acceptable implies that any digital infrastructure carries a highly problematic ecological and social cost. Digital technology therefore becomes acceptable if and only if it remains socially and ecologically sustainable, and beneficial to society.

More systemic, because acceptable digital technology encompasses both the issues of ecological and social impact, and the issues of emancipation and democratic choice. Digital technology must be at once emancipatory, chosen, and sustainable in order to be acceptable.

"Acceptable digital technology" framework diagram on a dark blue background. Three connected boxes linked by double-headed arrows: 01 Emancipating, not alienating; 02 Chosen, not imposed; 03 Socially and ecologically sustainable. A footnote reads: "Digital technology is understood here as the whole set of technologies, equipment, infrastructures and devices that process digital information." A QR code links to "The acceptable digital technology framework." Bottom text reads "V2 — CC BY-SA 4.0" and "louisderrac.com" with a small mountain logo.

A chosen digital world. This is a matter of technical democracy, and thus of putting in place the conditions that allow us to debate and democratically decide what place we want to give digital technology in our society.

An emancipatory digital world. Or convivial, to borrow Illich's concept. Digital technology should allow us to "expand our personal range of action," be "generative of efficiency without degrading personal autonomy," and give rise to "neither master nor slave."

A digital world that is socially and ecologically sustainable. The impact of digital infrastructure, from data centers to personal devices to networks, must be sustainable for living beings in the broadest sense: humans, non-humans, and the planet.