October 24th,

h 17.00-19.00

Henrik Rydenfelt (University of Helsinki) & Kenneth Siren (Uniarts Helsinki), Experimenting with Values: Pragmatism, Democracy, and AI-Empowered Media

Despite pragmatism’s reputation as a philosophy of technology, it has been largely absent from debates on the ethical and societal challenges of emerging technologies. This paper is structured in two parts. The first presents a pragmatist perspective in the study of technologies, arguing that while recent research highlights how pragmatism traces technologies’ ethical implications, a fully pragmatist approach would model empirical inquiry, akin to experimental methods in other domains. This vision is articulated through Dewey’s pattern of inquiry—felt unease, identification and definition of a problem, suggested solutions, reasoning, and experimental testing—which parallels his conception of democracy as collective problem-solving beyond formal governance. This approach is contrasted with critical theory, Foucauldian genealogy, applied ethics, and deliberative methods, which often focus on a single phase, whereas pragmatism integrates them into a comprehensive methodology. The second part applies this framework, presenting our ongoing study in which co-created future scenarios are enacted to explore emerging democratic challenges and potential solutions in the context of AI-driven media technologies. In this research, different democratic ideals are translated into actionable design guidance for media applications and services. The resulting mock applications are refined and tested through participatory performative practices focusing on generating unexpected insights through live-performed action, providing empirical insights into which values should guide technology and democratic engagement.