José María Lassalle (Esade): “We need an ethical and legal framework to guide the digital revolution towards freedom and human well-being”

Esade has launched the Technological Humanism Forum as a space for reflection, knowledge, and public debate on the impact of the digital revolution on human rights and the quality of life. The forum will reflect the business, political, and social perspectives. "The adoption of new technologies – including big data, computer algorithms, artificial intelligence, and robotics – and the proliferation of digital platforms with little regulation, has led to an automation of the economy and revealed gaps in the democratic control of disruptive change processes. This raises profound questions regarding ethics and fairness, while challenging our growth model and the viability of liberal democracy and markets”, says José María Lassalle, director of the Esade Technological Humanism Forum. “We must examine the digital revolution through a humanising and ethical agenda that supports a public regulation strategy based on a humanistic narrative that puts people centre-stage instead of technology – and enables an inclusive orientation towards freedom and well-being”, he added. 

Towards technological humanism

Through the analysis and reflection of a group of prestigious experts, academics, and professionals in the political, business, and social spheres, the Esade Technological Humanism Forum aims to: "comprehensively encourage debate and generate knowledge while pointing the way to a technological humanism that resizes to a human scale the public policies and economic models that strengthen business competitiveness – without forgetting the human foundations of a market economy designed to create well-being. In addition, the forum aims to boost the discussion of digital ethics and encourage democratic control of the digital revolution so that people gain more control over the technology and make it more human", says José María Lassalle.

The Advisory Council of the Esade Technological Humanism Forum includes: Jorge Barreto Xavier, general director of education, digital development, and culture at Oeiras Valley, an Oeiras (Lisbon) municipal government project, and lecturer at ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon; Xavier Ferràs, lecturer at the Esade Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences; Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí, CEO and founding partner of Ideograma; Anna Ginès i Fabrellas, lecturer in labour law and director of the Esade Institute for Labor Studies; Ingrid Guardiola, lecturer at the University of Girona, cultural researcher, and filmmaker; Daniel Innerarity, professor of political and social philosophy and director of the Institute of Democratic Governance; Lorena Jaume-Palasí, CEO and founding partner of The Ethical Tech Society and of AlgorithmWatch; Ramón López de Mántaras, Director of the CSIC Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence; José Ramón López-Portillo, member of a group of experts at the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism and scientific diplomacy consultant to the Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat; Íñigo Navarro Mendizábal, dean of law at ICADE; Natalia Olson-Urtecho, CEO and founding partner of The Disruptive Factory; Alicia Richart, CEO of DigitalEs and digital champion for the European Commission; Luz Rodriguez, labour law lecturer at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha; Pipo Serrano, director of strategy and digital content at Broadcaster and lecturer in journalism 2.0 and social networks at the Universidad Pompeu Fabra and the University of New Haven; and Marc Torrens, lecturer at the Esade Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences.