E-Journal of Philosophy of Education:
International Yearbook of the Philosophy of Education Society of Japan, Vol. 7, 2022

The Challenge for the Philosophy of Education in a “DataDriven Society”
Shoko SUZUKI
Kyoto University / RIKEN

Abstract
The world we live in is now a Cyber-Physical System (CPS), where the cyber and physical realms areinterconnected. Human beings living in this system are constantly mobilising data simply by virtue of
their existence and behaviour in the world. Can philosophy of education respond to this digitaltransformation in the view of humanity, which has the power to reconfigure the nature of humanexistence, leading to states such as the posthuman and the transhuman?
Keywords: Cyber-Physical System, Internet of Things, posthuman, transhuman, humanity

I. What a “data-driven society” brings
Rapid development of information and communication technologies in recent years
has spurred the expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT), in which computers embedded
in objects work together, as well as digitalization and AI networking, in which artificial
intelligence is connected to the web. This has led to an explosive increase in the amountof data being circulated, accelerating analysis of accumulated big data and use of AI for
this purpose. In such a “data-driven society,” it is essential to effectively promote thecollection, accumulation, analysis, and feedback of data to the real world, andexpectations for innovation based on data are high (Minister of Internal Affairs andCommunications -Japan 2018).
The world we live in is now a Cyber-Physical System (CPS), where the cyber andphysical realms are interconnected. Human beings living in this system are constantly
mobilising data simply by virtue of their existence and behaviour in the world. ACorrespondence:
Shoko SUZUKI, Kyoto University / RIKEN. Email: shoko.suzuki.ue.@riken.jp

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characteristic feature of a data-driven society is that human existence and activity imply
the production and accumulation of data, and its use or consumption.
A data-driven society contains data that in itself has the same value as land, labour,or capital. For example, data covering a person’s lifetime create value. Such data range
from maternity records to medical examinations, genetic information, and various
learning and behavioural history data collected by schools and companies, etc. It is alsonecessary to decide in advance what will happen to such data at the end of life and whatwill happen to legacy data, for example whether the surviving family will redeem thedata for cash or whether it will be made available to an institution. In addition, there is anurgent need to consider legal mechanisms to ensure that collected data is usedappropriately for examinations or employment purposes. Individual optimisation isoptimisation within a pre-conceived framework, and the increasing number of justifiable
preventative interventions based on correlative predictions made by big-data analysis will
emerge in a variety of settings in the future, including self-medication, nursing care,disaster prevention, and education.
Changes in industrial structure will once again call into question the value of public
education. These include the convergence of information technology and manufacturingindustries, the introduction of IoT into components, raw materials, products, andequipment, the networking of supply chains from raw material procurement todistribution and sales, factory automation, and mass customisation to enable mass
production while meeting customer needs. In addition, new industries are emerging thatmake full use of information technology, such as fintech (IT and finance) and agritech(IT and agriculture). The reconfiguration of industrial structures and rapid changes inwork styles make it difficult to predict changes in the labour market. It is also challenging
to know what kinds of human resources will be required in the next stage and what
minimum skills and competencies will be required.
People’s lives are also undergoing major changes. The resistance to online forms ofeducation and work that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic was a stark reminderof how deeply ingrained social systems are in our habits; human lives have taken for
granted the fostering of contact-based social experiences (Suzuki, 2022). The shift froma consumer lifestyle of owning things to a lifestyle of sharing things with others is likely
to continue, even though the pandemic has temporarily stalled this trend. What do weown and what do we experience as we move back and forth between the cyber andphysical worlds, and how do we perceive our position and self-consciousness throughperformances on the web, such as communicating anonymously or through avatars in themetaverse? These experiences in the CPS also transform one’s view of life and death.
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Today we access the storehouse of information, which can be called collective
intelligence, as needed (on demand) and acquire a lot of information each time. Thismeans that the processes of learning through memory and recall, feeding on experience,
mastery through repeated practice, changing stages as things suddenly become clear tous, and so on, are all part of the process of learning from the earliest stages of life. It will
mean a transformation of the intellect, the emotions, the will, and the body, and a change
in human nature itself. Can philosophy of education respond to this digital transformationin the view of humanity, which has the power to reconfigure the nature of humanexistence, leading to states such as the posthuman and the transhuman? This is a question
pertaining to the raison d'être of philosophy of education as an academic discipline.

II. Future challenges for pedagogy and philosophy of education
From the perspective of the new technological civilization brought about bytechnologies such as artificial intelligence, I would like to point out three issues in thephilosophy of education that I think we will confront in the future.
(1) New turn in science and technology ethics and redefinition of humanity
Technological innovation, such as artificial intelligence, requires the wisdom to“fear rightly and use wisely” (Berberich/ Nishida/ Suzuki 2021). Technology will emerge
as one of the most important issues for education in the future. The nature of ethics
regarding the research, development, and use of science and technology is approachinga turning point. We require the kind of ethical thinking that predicts possible future
situations and simulates how to deal with them. In other words, it has become necessary
to anticipate situations that have not yet occurred, but may occur in the future as scienceand technology progress and spread, and to consider in advance how to deal ethicallywith such possible cases. While linking to certain kinds of strategic thinking and takingtraditional ethics as its base, this thought process will also link to meta-ethics in the senseof requiring a new type of ethics that maintains an overview of ethics itself. At the sametime, it will reinforce the aspect of providing suggestions for risk perception andsituational judgment. Ethics education for the acquisition of ethical thinking and attitudes
is also likely to change dramatically in the future.
Moreover, the development of AI technologies is enabling partial substitution forhuman intellect and physical functions. Such substitution carries the danger of weakening
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functions that until now have been acquired by humans themselves, such as those relating
to memory, recall, emotional cognition, and empathy. One example is increasing
extrapolation of memory effects. We have already begun to take for granted the ability toacquire information by leaving it to external storage devices or accessing on-demand theencyclopaedic functions of so-called collective intelligence on the web. There is also adanger that “knowing,” which is based on the intertwining of various aspects of such“knowing,” such as retaining information, knowing things, and having a sense of reason,will be reduced to the act of acquiring data. We experience various things in the cyberworld without activating our bodies. In the physical world, coordination between sensors
and emotions activates our senses. Human beings have confirmed their nature as humans,in other word their humanity, by drawing a boundary between animals and machines.
Such boundaries often depend on stereotypes, preconceptions, and prejudices. Fromthe point of view of contemporary post-colonialism, the definition of “humanity” basedon a universal model of humanity, which can only be described as the Western view ofhumanity based on white male supremacy, has begun to show various discrepancies.
When the human intellect, emotions, and body are altered by highly invasive
technologies, for example, psychic avatars developed through combination of artificial
intelligence and genome technologies, it is time to redefine “humanity” (Bostrom 2014;Suzuki 2020).
(2) Reviewing the concept of competence and skills and the significance of learningin the school space
At the same time, the question of “humanity” implies a rethinking of abilities andskills. Today, when we are constantly connected to a variety of information devices anduse them in our daily lives, is it sufficient to think of human abilities and skills in the same
way as before? In past school education, ability was generally regarded as the ability toperform a certain task, based on the ability to perform it visibly. In an age of digitaltransformation, when people are closely connected to one another and to objects, simply
regarding abilities and skills as attributable to individuals may no longer be seen asadequate. If we are to adopt a world-view of human beings as actors in a so-called
environmental intelligence made up of data and information, it will be necessary to grasp
human abilities and skills from a new viewpoint.
In a sense, online learning, which has seen rapidly growing demand triggered by the
COVID-19 pandemic, may offer suggestions for a new form of education. On the otherhand, this is also an opportunity to reassess the significance of face-to-face learning,
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where people share the same place and time. From a viewpoint of historical anthropology,
the classroom can be seen as a stage where communication between teachers and students
takes place, resonating through the interplay of various performances to form a shared“place” of learning. Field research and interviews in families and schools in Japan andGermany has clearly shown that through such communication and performances, rituals
that are performed repeatedly and have become a kind of custom are passed on throughmutual imitation by those who share the space. Schooling can be regarded as a process
of updating, modifying, and editing according to individual circumstances. In this sense,
school is a space in which students can experience diverse ways of learning.
Bearing in mind guidelines for learning, whether you study on your own at home oronline with a teacher in the form of individualised learning, the path to understanding
something is limited only to the process by which you come to know it. However, in theclassroom, students have opportunities to see how other students have different ways ofunderstanding the content of the class. We help our fellow students who seem tounderstand more slowly than we do, explaining things to them and asking them where
they are stuck. Sometimes you think you understand something, but find a completely
different way of thinking about it. It is no simple matter to identify what kind of abilities
and skills are developed by experiencing these different ways of understanding. Elements
deeply related to the fields of non-verbal and non-cognitive capabilities, such as physicaland tacit knowledge, play an important role. These include non-verbal communication,
anticipating others’ intentions, mutual gestures, facial and bodily expressions, and tone ofvoice. The significance of such face-to-face learning, which could be called theatricallearning, or the significance of learning through practice, needs to be further elucidated
in the future (Suzuki 2021; Wulf 2013).

III. The impact of the “data-driven society” on education andeducational philosophy researchBig-data analysis and other new research methods are showing signs of a majortransformation not only in the natural sciences, but also in the humanities and socialsciences. There are high hopes for the potential of digital humanities, a field which
introduces new technologies to research subjects in the humanities, such as old maps anddocuments. As the accuracy of predicting the future through data analysis improves, we
can expect to see significant progress in correlation-based research in education-related
fields. In this context, educational research will inevitably undergo a paradigm shift as aE-Journal of Philosophy of Education: International Yearbook of the Philosophy of Education Society of Japan, Vol. 7, 2022

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result of digital transformation, with changes in the focus of research and thedevelopment of joint projects with other related disciplines, including the natural sciences.
In this paradigm shift, researchers will increasingly be called upon to search for new paths
to renewal of educational research while questioning the raison d'être of the philosophyof education.

References
Berberich, Nicolaus, Nishida, Toyoaki, Suzuki, Shoko (2020). Harmonizing Artificial
Intelligence for Social Good. In: Philosophy & Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-020-00421-8.
Bostrom, Nick (2014). Superintelligence. Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Oxford University
Press; New York.
Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications -Japan (2018). The Conference toward
AI Network Society-Draft AI Utilization Principles, 17 July 2018. Accessed
June 30. 2019. http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000581310.pdf
Suzuki, Shoko (2022). Humanity and Rituals in the Age of Living with COVID-19. In:
Suzuki, Shoko/ Chr. Wulf (eds.) “Paragrana – Zeitschrift für InternationaleZeitschrift für Historische Anthropologie,” Vol.30, Bd.2, De Gruyter Verlag;
Berlin, pp. 21-27.
Suzuki, Shoko (2021). Sieben Fragmente über Takt, V. Kapitel, in: Burghardt, Daniel/Krebs, Moritz/ Napoles, Juliane Noack (Hrsg.): Weiterdenken - Perspektiven
pädagogischer Anthropologie: Festschrift für Joerg Zirfas, Beltz JuventaVerlag; Weinheim.
Suzuki, Shoko (2020). Redefining Humanity in the Era of AI- Technical Civilization. In:
Paragrana – Zeitschrift für Internationale Zeitschrift für Historische
Anthropologie, Vol.29, Bd.1, De Gruyter Verlag; Berlin, pp. 83-93.
Wulf, Christoph (2013). Anthropology – a continental Perspective, University of Chicago
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Thematic Research: The Challenges for the Philosophy of Education in a “Data-Driven Society”: Reconsidering“Data,” “Information” and “Knowledge” for the Future of Education