Recently, a symposium titled “Information Civilization and Contemporary Philosophical Development” was held by the Institute of Philosophy at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in joint with the Shanghai Society for the Dialectics of Nature in Shanghai.

A new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) is booming around the world, profoundly changing people’s production and lifestyle, which has also triggered new philosophical thinking. Wang Zhan, chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Social Sciences Associations, said that this has provided a great opportunity for social sciences development, and we should grasp this opportunity by sorting through the new issues brought about by AI in law, security, ethics and governance. To grasp this opportunity requires further cooperation and exchange of views among countries.

Cheng Sumei, deputy director of the Institute of Philosophy at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said that it’s important to follow closely new philosophical issues emerging from scientific and technological development, to research deeply the basic theories in the philosophy of science and technology, and to predict and interpret possible future problems.

Technological development has brought to humankind different forms of civilizations. Wang Tian’en, dean of the School of Social Sciences at Shanghai University, said that the development of information civilization has provided new perspectives for the evolution of traditional philosophy. Traditional philosophy is mainly based on physical existence, while in the information era, philosophical reflection should be based on information, and more discussion should explore how to meet human needs on the basis of information.

Information civilization has rich philosophical connotations. Liu Dachun, deputy director of the Administration Committee at Renmin University of China, believed that although we have entered the era of booming AI development, human beings are still the main actors in society, and we need to give full play to people’s agency and seek benefits for humankind. The internet and smart facilities play the role of medium, serving rather than replacing society.