Different discussions on roboethics and information ethics based on different contexts (BA). Discussions on robots, informatics and life in the information era in Japanese\ud bulletin board forums and mass media

Abstract

In this paper, I will analyze „what sort of invisible reasons lie behind differences of discussions on roboethics and IE (Information Ethics) in Japan and “Western” cultures‟, focusing on (1) the recent trends of researches in roboethics in „Western‟ cultures, (2) the tendencies of portrayal of robots, ICTs, Informatics, life in the information era reflected in news papers reports and talks on BBSs in Japan. As we will see in this paper, Japanese people have difficulty in understanding some of the key concepts used in the fields of roboethics and IE (Information Ethics) such as „autonomy‟ or „responsibility (of robots)‟,etc. This difficulty appears to derive from different types of discussions based on of different cultural contexts (Ba) in which the majority of people in each culture are provided with a certain sort of shared/ normalized frames of narratives. In my view and according to some Japanese critics or authors, senses of „reality‟ of Japanese people are strongly related with "emotional sensitivity to things/persons/events in life" or "direct-non>mediated-intuitive\ud awareness/knowing" (Izutsu, 2001). These tendencies in Japanese minds seem to influence their limited interest in the "abstract" discussions as well\ud as in straightforward emotional expressions with regard to robots and ICTs