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Entropy as Evil in Information Ethics

L. L. Floridi and J. W. Sanders

University of Oxford

Abstract:

It has been argued [5,6] that Information Ethics, a theory which also concerns questions of normally non-sentient agents acting on information (i.e. entities in Cyberspace), is a macroethics (a theoretical, field-independent, applicable ethics) not accurately subsumed by standard ethical theories. In this paper that argument is extended. Four requirements of Information Ethics are determined: stability, modularity, rigorousness and soundness. A concept called entropy structure is then proposed as the basis for an Information Ethics consistent with those requirements. Finally, evil actions are characterised as those which increase the entropy ordering and a variety of examples is analysed.



L. L. Floridi and J. W. Sanders
1999-12-09