A Comprehensive Study of Information & Technology

How are information and communication technologies changing our lives? How can we properly interact with the devices we use more and more? How can we inhabit the virtual worlds to which these devices give access in a healthy way? To answer these questions, the book first explores the basic concepts that allow us to understand the various information and communication technologies. It then discusses, from a deontological and ethical perspective, the problems associated with the use of the most popular devices: computers, smartphones, automated communication systems. Finally, it explores the virtual environments to which information and communication technologies give access, with reference to the Internet. This book is intended to provide a comprehensive introduction, conducted from an ethical perspective to information and communication technologies. It is an introduction that does not want to focus solely on what these technologies are, what they are and how they work. Of course: the volume will also provide some insights on the subject, developed for an audience of non-specialists. But the purpose of this text is different: it wants to clarify what are properly, for the human being, the best ways, that is, the most correct and best, of dealing with information and communication technologies today. It is an ethical task. In fact, ethics deals with studying the areas of human life characterized by codified behaviors and habits (what the ancient Greeks called ethos), analyzing how we move in these areas and interact with them, identifying criteria and principles that within them allow us to make the best decisions, to clarify what the terms "good" and "evil" mean in relation to our actions, to motivate the choice of good. To elaborate an ethics, therefore, it is necessary to deepen these issues, highlight the issues and moral dilemmas that may arise in our life, and justify the reason why we define certain behaviors as good or not. The areas in which we live today, on the other hand, are characterized by the massive and widespread presence of information and communication technologies. We find ourselves inserted in a constant flow of data, which concerns both the real world and virtual environments. This is a globally widespread and ever-expanding flow.