Papers by Rostam J. NEUWIRTH
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Nov 16, 2023
JMIR infodemiology, Mar 19, 2024
Routledge eBooks, Jun 14, 2022
Social Science Research Network, 2022
Routledge eBooks, Jun 14, 2022
Social Science Research Network, 2014
Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht, 2000
The quallty of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or i... more The quallty of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or paor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. ln the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a comptete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also. if unauthorized copyright material had ta be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings" charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original" beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left ta right in squal sections with small overlaps. Pholographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this capy. Higher quality 6-x 9-black and white photographie prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additionsl charge. Contact UMI directly ta arder.
Law, Technology and Humans
The human fascination with the art of predicting the future derives from the practical need to an... more The human fascination with the art of predicting the future derives from the practical need to anticipate events to make adequate decisions. While science fiction has undoubtedly contributed greatly to this field, there are a large number of other forms of expression of the same desire to predict the future in almost every field of activity—from the arts to science, from technology to linguistics, and from artificial intelligence to magic—all of which constantly contribute to bringing the future closer to the present. However, there is one field that potentially has the greatest predictive power of them all: that is the field of law. To release this latent power of law, this article argues, a cognitive revolution has to take place, one that is related to the perception of time. Awareness about this cognitive change is dawning and is currently manifesting itself in a general trend derived from related trends of convergence in language and technology. These trends are captured by the ...
SSRN Electronic Journal
AI in combination with other innovative technologies promises to bring unprecedented opportunitie... more AI in combination with other innovative technologies promises to bring unprecedented opportunities to all aspects of life. These technologies, however, hold great dangers, especially for the manipulation of the human mind, which have given rise to serious ethical concerns. Apart from some sectoral regulatory efforts to address these concerns, no regulatory framework for AI has yet been adopted though in 2021 the European Commission of the EU published a draft Act on Artificial Intelligence and UNESCO followed suit with a Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. The book contextualises the future regulation of AI, specifically addressing the regulatory challenges relating to the planned prohibition of the use of AI systems that deploy subliminal techniques. The convergence of AI with various related technologies, such as brain–computer interfaces, functional magnetic resonance imaging, robotics and big data, already allows for "mind reading" or "dream hacking" through brain spyware, as well as other practices that intrude on cognition and the right to freedom of thought. Future innovations will enhance the possibilities for manipulating thoughts and behaviour, and they threaten to cause serious harm to individuals as well as to society as a whole. The issue of subliminal perception and the ability to deceive and manipulate the mind below the threshold of awareness causes severe difficulties for law and democracy and raises important questions for the future of society. This book shows how cognitive, technological, and legal questions are intrinsically interwoven, and aims to stimulate an urgently needed transdisciplinary and transnational debate between students, academics, practitioners, policymakers and citizens interested not only in the law but also in disciplines including computer science, neuroscience, sociology, political science, marketing and psychology.
Wine Law and Policy, 2020
International Journal of Legal Discourse
“Political correctness” and “cancel culture” are two concepts frequently invoked to control speec... more “Political correctness” and “cancel culture” are two concepts frequently invoked to control speech and influence debates with a view to establishing greater equality across the globe. Even though their usage has also been met with criticism, there is a strong merit in these attempts, as language change is indicative of wider cognitive changes that are eventually also transformed into changes in the law and society. Based on the wider trend of a rise in so-called “essentially oxymoronic concepts” in public discourses in general and equality debates in particular, this article proposes to analyse the present linguistic trends in order to better understand the deeper causes and related challenges to legal reasoning posed by “political correctness”, “cancel culture” and other terms that have been qualified as oxymora or paradoxes. Based on the view that oxymora and paradoxes are not mere aspects of language but also expressions of deeper layers of human cognition, the article ponders the need not merely to control the external aspects of language use but also to inquire more deeply into the inner workings of the brain and its underlying cognitive processes. In this endeavour it critically examines the dominant modes of dualistic or dichotomized thinking and binary logic, which – when regarded in isolation – appear to cause most discriminatory acts and violations of the principle of equality.
International Journal of Legal Discourse, 2023
Political correctness" and "cancel culture" are two concepts frequently invoked to control speech... more Political correctness" and "cancel culture" are two concepts frequently invoked to control speech and influence debates with a view to establishing greater equality across the globe. Even though their usage has also been met with criticism, there is a strong merit in these attempts, as language change is indicative of wider cognitive changes that are eventually also transformed into changes in the law and society. Based on the wider trend of a rise in so-called "essentially oxymoronic concepts" in public discourses in general and equality debates in particular, this article proposes to analyse the present linguistic trends in order to better understand the deeper causes and related challenges to legal reasoning posed by "political correctness", "cancel culture" and other terms that have been qualified as oxymora or paradoxes. Based on the view that oxymora and paradoxes are not mere aspects of language but also expressions of deeper layers of human cognition, the article ponders the need not merely to control the external aspects of language use but also to inquire more deeply into the inner workings of the brain and its underlying cognitive processes. In this endeavour it critically examines the dominant modes of dualistic or dichotomized thinking and binary logic, whichwhen regarded in isolationappear to cause most discriminatory acts and violations of the principle of equality.
Comparing Online Legal Education: Past, Present and Future (edited by Luke Nottage and Makoto Ibusuki), pp. 159-181. Mortsel: Intersentia, 2023
This report covers the development of online legal education in the Macao Special Administrative ... more This report covers the development of online legal education in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. It describes the overall features of the higher education institutions before it studies the exam-ple of the University of Macau, Macao’s only comprehensive public university. Against the backdrop of the overall macroeconomic impact of the pandemic on the Macao economy, the report shows what steps had been undertaken before the outbreak of the pandemic and how these had helped to provide exclusively online or hybrid classes during the pan-demic. Based on these findings it concludes with some general remarks about the impact of online legal education against the overall trend of a changing legal profession in the future.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2022
s artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a more and more important part of human lives, the ini... more s artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a more and more important part of human lives, the initial hype about its many expected benefits is gradually giving way to rising ethical concerns about its inherent risks and dangers. In order to confront and contain the most serious risks by way of the establishment of a legal framework for trustworthy AI, the European Union released its proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) in April 2021. The draft AIA pursues a proportionate horizontal and risk-based regulatory approach to AI, classifying AI broadly into the categories of unacceptable risks, high risks, and low or minimal risks. The unacceptable risks are those that are deemed to contravene Union values, and they are therefore considered as “prohibited AI practices” by Article 5 AIA. The proposed prohibition covers four categories: 1) AI systems deploying subliminal techniques, 2) AI practices exploiting vulnerabilities, 3) social scoring systems, and 4) “real-time” remote biometric identification systems. These will be critically discussed in the present article.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
Evidently, the term "legal fiction" connotes a combination of law and fiction. At a first look, t... more Evidently, the term "legal fiction" connotes a combination of law and fiction. At a first look, the two concepts seem opposed, contradictory and likely impossible to reconcile. The reason is that law, notably when expressed in the rule of law, can be considered a source of certainty and predictability, whereas fiction is attributed more to literature, where it is the general term for invented stories, as told in novels, short stories, or other narrative works. In other words, one may ask whether a "legal fiction" thus constitutes an oxymoron, or contradictio in adiecto to be linguistically more precise? This may sound like a theoretical question, one more relevant for academia in general or for literary studies more than for legal practice. Yet, legal fictions in particular but, more generally, oxymora and paradoxes, which simply put are both rhetorical devices expressing varying degrees of contradiction, have surprisingly strong implications not just in language but also in our actions. This has been shown for the metaphor, which is not just a "device of the poetic imagination" but also "pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action" (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 3). Already in 1995, James N. Rosenau anticipated the major challenges for the 21 st century to have "to discern powerful tensions, profound contradictions, and perplexing paradoxes" (Rosenau, 1995: 1). In the same year, Charles Handy completed his book "The Age of Paradox", in which he warned it to be imperative to be able to make sense of paradoxes and "to use them to shape a better destiny" (Handy, 1995: xi). The book "Law in the Time of Oxymora" published in 2018 also marks an attempt to show that these rhetorical devices equally matter in literature and in law and other sciences as well as in theory and in practice (Neuwirth, 2018). Additionally, it argues that these figures of speech, also referred to as "essentially oxymoronic concepts", seem capable of bridging the gap opened by dualistic modes of cognitive reasoning as expressed in all kinds of dichotomous pairs, such as law or fiction and truth or lie. Especially in these rapidly changing times, with serious problems of a global dimension, from climate change, growing inequality to pandemics and sustainable
AI & SOCIETY, 2022
In 2021, 193 Member States at UNESCO’s General Conference adopted the Recommendation on the Ethic... more In 2021, 193 Member States at UNESCO’s General Conference adopted the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence as a first important step towards a future global standard-setting instrument on the subject. The text reflects an emerging consensus among the international community about the growing ethical concerns with artificial intelligence (AI). Among these concerns are also serious risks and dangers attributed to the manipulative effects of AI, which can be further exacerbated by the creative combination of AI with other innovative technologies or applications, such as brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), robotics, and big data. The risks for individuals and society as a whole caused by manipulation through AI are already well known and have recently also been addressed by the European Union having released a proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA). Among multiple risks related to AI, the AIA singles out the specific dangers related to AI systems that deploy “subliminal techniques beyond a person’s consciousness in order to materially distort a person’s behaviour in a manner that causes or is likely to cause that person or another person physical or psychological harm”. The present article thus aims to highlight the known and potential dangers related to AI systems manipulating human thoughts and behaviour through subliminal and supraliminal means and methods. To this end, it advocates the joint study of law and the senses captured by the concept of legal synaesthesia to correspond to the need for an interdisciplinary debate covering the complexity of the links between AI, related technologies, human perception based on the senses and the mind, as well as the role and instruments of law in the future organization of societies in this world.
Computer Law & Security Review, 2023
Artificial intelligence (AI) now forms a more and more important part of human lives. After years... more Artificial intelligence (AI) now forms a more and more important part of human lives. After years focussed on the development of AI, the initial hype about its many expected benefits has gradually given way to rising ethical concerns about its inherent risks and dangers. Efforts to confront and contain the most serious risks related to AI have now prompted a number of legislative or regulatory proposals at the national, regional and global level. One of the most comprehensive regulatory initiatives is the European Union's proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), which was released in April 2021 with a view towards establishing a legal framework for trustworthy AI. To this end, the draft AIA pursues a proportionate horizontal and risk-based regulatory approach to AI, broadly classifying AI into the categories of unacceptable risks, high risks and low or minimal risks. The unacceptable risks are those that are deemed to contravene European Union values, and therefore, they are considered to be ‘prohibited AI practices’ by Article 5 AIA. The prohibited AI practices are classified into four categories, namely 1) AI systems deploying subliminal techniques; 2) AI practices exploiting vulnerabilities; 3) social scoring systems; and 4) ‘real-time’ remote biometric identification systems. The proposed regulatory approach, however, appears problematic given the four categories’ inherent interrelatedness and the numerous possibilities for their mutual combination and entwinement. It is also problematic from the perspective of the human mind, as each of the four categories alone allows for the manipulation of human thought and behaviour, thereby endangering freedom of thought and other fundamental rights. In the context of the proposed AIA, both aspects give rise to unknown and unsolved conundrums that create difficult regulatory challenges that raise the necessity to also look at the wider implications of these technologies for the entire legal system. As these conundrums often find their expression in paradoxes and oxymora, this article calls for a wider interdisciplinary debate and advocates a different regulatory strategy using these concepts to transcend the limitations inherent in dualistic or dichotomous modes of legal thinking.
Law in the Time of Oxymora, 2018
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Papers by Rostam J. NEUWIRTH
The book contextualises the future regulation of AI, specifically addressing the regulatory challenges relating to the planned prohibition of the use of AI systems that deploy subliminal techniques. The convergence of AI with various related technologies, such as brain–computer interfaces, functional magnetic resonance imaging, robotics and big data, already allows for "mind reading" or "dream hacking" through brain spyware, as well as other practices that intrude on cognition and the right to freedom of thought. Future innovations will enhance the possibilities for manipulating thoughts and behaviour, and they threaten to cause serious harm to individuals as well as to society as a whole.
The issue of subliminal perception and the ability to deceive and manipulate the mind below the threshold of awareness causes severe difficulties for law and democracy and raises important questions for the future of society. This book shows how cognitive, technological, and legal questions are intrinsically interwoven, and aims to stimulate an urgently needed transdisciplinary and transnational debate between students, academics, practitioners, policymakers and citizens interested not only in the law but also in disciplines including computer science, neuroscience, sociology, political science, marketing and psychology.
Law in the Time of Oxymora provides answers to these conundrums by critically comparing the apparent rise in recent years of the use of rhetorical figures called "essentially oxymoronic concepts" (i.e. oxymoron, enantiosis and paradoxes) in the areas of art, science and law. Albeit to varying degrees, these concepts share the quality of giving expression to apparent contradictions. Through this quality, they also challenge the scientific paradigm rooted in the dualistic thinking and binary logic that is traditionally used in the West, as opposed to the East, where a paradoxical mode of thinking and fuzzy logic is said to have been cultivated.
Following a review of oxymora and paradoxes in art and various scientific writings, hundreds of "hard cases" featuring oxymora and a comprehensive review of the legal literature are discussed, revealing evidence suggesting that the present scientific paradigm of dualism alone will no longer be able to tackle the challenges arising from increasing diversity and complexity coupled with an apparent acceleration of change. Law in the Time of Oxymora reaches the surprising conclusion that essentially oxymoronic concepts may inaugurate a new era of cognition, involving the ways the senses interact and how we reason, think and make decisions in law and in life.