This event was held on: 12-12:45 pm AEST, Wednesday, 28th July
The discussion raised questions about the nature of the digital world and the crisis of embodiment such as:
- Are corporations psychopathic?
By law, corporations are humans, yet they don’t have to embody ‘humanity’. They are allowed to act in their own interest, lack ethics, morals and demonstrate no empathy for human rights. If we evaluate the human criteria for a psychopathic diagnosis, corporations pass with flying colours.
Food for thought: If we think of corporations as psychopaths, should that change how we interact with them?
2. If corporations are psychopathic, what about the people who run them?
When humans occupy roles they put their own moral faculty aside – just look at the Stanford Prison Experiment. Our professional moral system is starkly different to our personal moral system. As a result, human rights are muffled in the process of professional embodiment.
Food for thought: Should corporations be held to the same statute of laws as humans?
3. What happens when digital data overrides the life world?
Our economy is based on continual growth on a finite planet. Digital data enables corporations to grow, and as they do, manipulate the life world. We’re lost in a virtual world of artificial intelligence and algorithms.
Food for thought: How do we recapture a link between the life world and corporations?
Want to join the crusade against psychopathic corporations?
About EFA Talks: Neoliberalism, the Life World and the Psychopathic Corporation.
Panelists:
Aidan Ricketts is a prominent social and environmental activist, educator, academic and writer. He is respected for his extensive experience in activism for almost 30 years, including his involvement in the campaign against coal seam gas mining in northern NSW.
Aidan works as a lecturer at the School Of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University and has postgraduate qualifications in law as well as in educational design.
His 2012 book “The Activists Handbook: A Step By Step Guide to Participatory Democracy” provides a powerful guide to grassroots activism.
Angus Murray is a Partner and Trade Marks Attorney at Irish Bentley Lawyers. He holds a published Master of Laws from Stockholm University and lectures LAW3418 – Law, Technology and Your Future at the University of Southern Queensland. He is also a co-founder and director of the Legal Forecast, a member of the QLS Innovation Committee and the IP and Technology Committee, a Vice President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties and the Chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia’s Policy Committee.
Host: Rita Mac
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