About the Project
The smartization and DX of social systems that are currently underway in various regions contribute to the optimization and efficiency of various infrastructures related to energy, mobility, etc., but also pose the danger of impoverishing and crowding out (mobism) of people in real and virtual communities. This project identifies this danger as the “WE (bonding/community) problem,” and works to solve it by identifying it as an ELSI associated with the smartening of communities. The significance and necessity of “WE” has been put in the background by the DX concept of “individuals who can live on their own” and the personalization of terminals for accessing the metaverse.
In order to avoid exacerbating the self-sufficient view of the individual and to explore and propose concrete measures for smartization that contribute to the revitalization of real and virtual WE, this project will (1) Develop a generic parameter system for evaluating the impact of smartization on communities, (2) Through consensus-building experiments in Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, and human flow retention experiments along the Odakyu rail line, work to demonstrate specific smart tools that contribute to solving the parameter system and WE problem, and (3) Establish a mechanism to foster ELSI human resources through industry-government-academia collaboration.
Research Plan
1. Organizing and digging deeper into ELSI-like problems posed by smarter communities
- System Construction
In this item, a system will be established to oversee the entire project and organically link the discussions in each dimension. Specifically, the first step is to establish a system in which young researchers in the humanities employed by the project will be stationed at the Hitachi Kyoto University Laboratory. In the Hitachi Kyoto University Laboratory, the project representative and IT engineers have promoted research on the relationship between local communities and IT, such as the ideal social system with high social acceptability, as well as the FY2021 JST/RInCA project planning survey “Planning Survey on Holistic and Individual ELSI of ‘Smart Cities’. The young researchers have been working on the project planning and research. Young researchers have been participating in the project planning survey and will continue to participate in this project as well, and will build a virtual and permanent discussion platform where they will serve as facilitators. This platform will include all participants and will be structured to supplement, amplify, and deepen the discussions in the above realistic plenary sessions.
- Research and organize ELSI-like issues in making communities smarter
Under the supervision of the Principal Investigator, young researchers will take the lead in clarifying the scope of “community” and “smart” and then collect and analyze basic literature on community theory, Western modern and contemporary human and social perspectives, dystopian theory, and alternative human and social perspectives in East Asia, etc. The results will be made available to all project participants from time to time through the above-mentioned virtual platform, and will be used as a reference for discussions in each item.
- Construction of Alternative view of humanity and society
Based on the results of the above “literature collection and analysis” and cross-references to Asian perspectives in item 4 “Dialogue with Asia” below, the principal investigator and others will take “enhancement” as one focal concept to reconfirm its depth and breadth in modern and contemporary Western views of man and society, and to develop a big We will attempt to reproduce an East Asian view of human and society that could result in alternatives.
- Publication
We will summarize the discussions of this project as a whole, including the above issues, and make recommendations to society in the form of website contents and a book. Specifically, the principal investigator will serve as editor with the cooperation of young researchers, and a book “For Better Smart Communities” (tentative title) will be published with contributions from the core participants in this project. Some of the HP contents and the book will also be published in English and Chinese by young researchers and researchers in Asia.
- Increase WE value by documenting making and making the community smarter
The young researchers will be responsible for recording the progress of the project across each item in the form of text, audio, and image information, editing it as a simultaneous four-dimensional co-creation document, and publishing it on the CAPE website after the project is completed, thereby providing a methodological model for similar future attempts to society at large.
2. Construction of a generic parameter system to evaluate the impact of smartization on communities (PaSC).
- Extraction of facts and value parameters
While the smartization of communities improves convenience and safety and security, it may also cause ELSI issues such as the dilution of mutual aid due to reduced communication between people. On the other hand, it is assumed that the degree and items of such issues vary from community to community, and it is unlikely that they can be solved by common community measures. Therefore, we will classify communities by visualizing (1) the actual situation of current communities and (2) the impact of smartization on ELSI-like issues. Factual parameters (objective indicators) and value parameters (universal, individual, and ethical) will be used to classify communities. Specifically, factual and value parameters will be surveyed and collected from literature and other sources, and these parameters will be used to model the current community.
- Derivation of fact/value parameter relationship equations
Among the extracted parameters, the factual parameter is the explanatory variable, the value parameter is the objective variable, and the effect on the factual parameter given by smartening is the operating variable, and a relationship equation is set up from the operating variable to the objective variable via the explanatory variable.
- Value-added calculations using a representative city as an example
In the set up relational equation, the impact of community smartening on the value parameters is evaluated. Specifically, using Echizen City and a representative city along the Odakyu rail line as an example, we will conduct a survey on wellbeing (overall subjective satisfaction), one of the factual and value parameters, to evaluate the impact of the smarter operation variable on residents’ wellbeing, and examine the desirable smarter community. The results of this evaluation will be used to determine the desirable smartization for the community. Based on the results of this evaluation, we will also evaluate other value parameters (sustainability, WE ethics, community creation, etc.).
3. ELSI fieldwork
- Residence WE fieldwork (Echizen city, Fukui)
Based on the recognition of the current situation of the overgrowth of “WE as irresponsible spectators” and the dilution of “WE actors as responsible consenters and actors” in virtual space, we will conduct a demonstration experiment of a consensus-building tool in virtual space that has the effect of curing these pathological phenomena. In other words, we will attempt to demonstrate the effectiveness of a consensus-building tool that not only promotes consensus building in virtual space, but also encourages participants in virtual discussions to practice in real life.
- Mobile WE fieldwork (Odakyu)
With the social implementation of MaaS, which is smart transportation flows, and the spread of e-commerce, human flows are becoming more efficient and reduced. It is assumed that this has traditionally occurred incidentally and locally at sites such as commuting, school, travel, shopping, etc., and as a result has contributed in no small measure to improving the wellbeing of the people. There is a risk of impoverishment of “going-away relationships (mobile WE),” which are assumed to have contributed in no small measure to improving people’s wellbeing as a result. Based on this awareness of the problem, we collaborated with Odakyu Electric Railway, which has similar concerns and plans to install people flow retention devices (such as hocco, a store and housing complex that reuses the space used for rotating buses) along its rail lines, in addition to implementing MaaS, and combined these people flow retention devices with MaaS applications. We will explore their effective operation methods for the reconstruction of mobile WE, and demonstrate their effectiveness by referring to the generic parameter system described above.
4. Dialogue with Asia
In order to conduct highly versatile ELSI research that is beneficial not only to Japan but also to Asia in general, it is essential to collaborate with researchers, IT engineers, and entrepreneurs in Asia other than Japan. Dialogue with Asian researchers is also indispensable in order to eliminate cognitive bias toward Asian thought that stems from a Japan-specific perspective in the work to propose “Asian alternatives for human and social perspectives” mentioned above.
Prospect and Originality
・The project will contribute to the original goal of smartization (improvement of wellbeing) without falling into the self-objectification of smartization.
・The project will develop Asian “non-self-sufficient individualism” by comparing it with Western values, and propose it as an alternative view of human beings and society.
→ This is not a simple denial of Western values, but rather an attempt to create a multilayered society in which different views of humanity and society coexist.
・We will build a four-dimensional co-creation system consisting of human and social researchers, IT and social infrastructure companies, local residents, and local governments.
→ Through this, we aim to train young facilitators and create a mechanism for industry-government-academia ELSI.
→ Mutually antiphonal approach to create synergies between theory and demonstration.