New Moral Subjects: Walking the Line Between Autonomy and Automaton

The question of“new moral subjects”arises today in connection with the use of advanced technologies in the context of Industry 4.0,i.e.,the industrial enterprise investing in smart factories,co-robotic,additive manufacturing,augmented reality,cyber security,big data,etc.Industry 4.0 underpins what is being heralded as Industry 5.0.Technologies in this field excel in that they are not used for the mere execution of processes designed,programmed,and controlled by man,but are applied to realise“autonomously”goals in the industrial context.Consequently,their degree of automation is no longer defined by increasing independence from human beings,but by the ability to spontaneously initiate a process and implement it to useful effect.The comparison between man and machine,and the justification for the introduction of“new moral subjects”thus crucially depend on the location of“moral being”in the reference to their“autonomy”as a property characterising the“subject man”,but not the exclusive prerogative of the latter.