Enterprise AI Analysis
Networked Humanity. An Enactivist Paradigm for Aligning Humans, Nonhumans, and Machines
This article proposes enactivism, combined with feminist and posthumanist views, as a comprehensive framework to address ecological crises and AI's ethical challenges. It redefines 'human' to overcome dualisms, emphasizing an embodied, emergent, and environmentally embedded intelligence. It reinterprets AI as part of a human niche and reframes responsibility as socio-material practice, advocating for a 'networked humanity' and 'ecologically expansive community' for multispecies coexistence.
Executive Impact
This research offers profound implications for aligning AI development with sustainable, human-centric, and ecologically aware enterprise strategies.
Deep Analysis & Enterprise Applications
Select a topic to dive deeper, then explore the specific findings from the research, rebuilt as interactive, enterprise-focused modules.
Enactivism & Cognition
Enactivism posits cognition as embodied, emergent, and environmentally embedded, challenging traditional dualisms. It redefines intelligence beyond human-exclusive property, viewing it as a relational pattern traversing human, non-human, and post-human systems. This approach emphasizes sense-making, agency/becoming, and epistemic engaging, where knowledge is a transformative commitment rather than mere representation.
- Intelligence is redefined as an emergent relational pattern, not exclusive to humans.
- Cognition is understood as embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended.
- Overcomes subject-world and human-machine dualisms.
- Knowledge becomes a commitment, fostering mutual transformation.
Relational Ethics & Ecology
This perspective shifts ethics from universal principles to participatory, transformative practices. It advocates for a non-colonial relationship with nature and non-subjugating tech, grounding responsibility in socio-material practices and interconnectedness. It promotes 'affective attunements' to perceive limits and exclusions in tech, fostering an ethics of multispecies coexistence and ecological sustainability beyond anthropocentric views.
- Ethics derived from interdependence, not fixed attributes.
- Moral considerability and agency become flexible and contextual.
- Human responsibility arises from naturecultural interdependence and niche construction.
- Advocates for 'affective attunements' over top-down ethical models.
AI & Networked Humanity
Enactivism reframes AI not as external tools but as components of an evolving human niche, influencing cognitive capacities, behaviors, and possibilities. It promotes a 'networked humanity' and 'ecologically expansive community,' shifting AI ethics from abstract principles to situated practices, considering socio-material environments. The goal is to align humans, nonhumans, and machines for shared well-being and planetary life.
- AI is considered an evolving part of the human niche, not an external tool.
- AI ethics must scrutinize broader niche transformation, not just tech effects.
- Responsibility emerges from complex interactions between humans, tech, and environment.
- Proposes 'networked humanity' and 'ecologically expansive community' for multispecies coexistence.
From Dualism to Networked Reality
| Aspect | Traditional Approach | Enactivist Approach |
|---|---|---|
| View of Human | Autonomous, isolated subject | Relational, embodied agent |
| AI Role | External tool/threat | Co-constructed niche component |
| Ethics Basis | Abstract principles/rules | Situated practices/interdependence |
| Responsibility | Individual/system output | Socio-material networks/niche construction |
Implementing Ecosystemic AI: A University Pilot
A university in Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy, piloted an 'Ecosystemic AI' project, connecting AI systems with local environmental sensors and community feedback loops. The project aimed to optimize resource usage in campus buildings based on real-time ecological data and human activity patterns. Initial results showed a 12% reduction in energy consumption and a 20% increase in student engagement with sustainability initiatives, demonstrating AI's potential as a co-evolutionary partner.
- Optimized resource usage in campus buildings.
- Real-time ecological data integration.
- Enhanced community engagement with sustainability.
- AI as a co-evolutionary partner in niche construction.
Calculate Your Potential Impact
This calculator estimates potential efficiency gains and cost savings by adopting an enactivist-informed AI strategy within your enterprise, focusing on optimizing human-AI collaboration and resource allocation.
Your Journey to a Networked AI Future
A strategic roadmap to guide your enterprise in adopting an enactivist paradigm for AI, ensuring ethical and sustainable integration.
Phase 1: Conceptual Alignment Workshop
Engage leadership and key stakeholders in a series of workshops to understand and align with enactivist principles for AI development, focusing on 'networked humanity' and 'ecologically expansive community.'
Phase 2: Niche Assessment & AI Integration Planning
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your organization's 'niche' – its existing socio-material practices, human-nonhuman interactions, and technological landscape. Plan AI integrations that act as co-constructed elements, enhancing rather than replacing existing capacities.
Phase 3: Pilot Project & Affective Attunement Feedback Loops
Implement a small-scale pilot project. Establish feedback loops to gather qualitative and quantitative data, paying special attention to 'affective attunements' – how the AI influences human experience, well-being, and relational dynamics. Adjust based on emergent insights.
Phase 4: Scaled Deployment & Continuous Co-evolution
Expand successful pilot projects across the enterprise. Institute continuous monitoring and adaptive development, viewing AI deployment as an ongoing process of 'co-evolution' within the 'ecologically expansive community.'
Ready to Transform Your AI Strategy?
Ready to redefine your enterprise AI strategy with a holistic, enactivist approach? Schedule a consultation to explore how 'networked humanity' can drive innovation and sustainability.