AI Ethics and Human Flourishing

The question isn't "Can AI do this?" but "Should AI do this, and for whose benefit?"

The Core Question

As someone working in education and watching AI tools proliferate, I keep returning to one framework: Does this technology enhance human agency or diminish it?

What I'm Watching

The Good

AI as assistive technology for neurodivergent minds
Tools that handle cognitive overhead (like this digital garden!)
Democratization of knowledge creation

The Concerning

Surveillance capitalism dressed as "personalization"
AI that replaces human judgment in contexts requiring wisdom
The Everything is Figureoutable mentality applied where it doesn't belong

Alaska Lens

Living in Alaska shapes how I think about AI ethics:

Question: What happens when your "smart home" loses internet for three days because of a storm?

Answer: You remember that resilience requires low-tech backup systems.

This isn't Luddism—it's systems thinking.

Personal Stakes

My ADHD brain benefits enormously from AI tools that:

Help convert unknown unknowns into known unknowns
Provide structure for nonlinear thinking
Reduce executive function load

But I'm wary of tools that:

Claim to "fix" neurodivergence rather than accommodate it
Create dependency without building capability
Extract data in exchange for accessibility

Key Principles I'm Developing

Technology should be transparent about its limits
AI should augment human wisdom, not replace it
Privacy isn't negotiable (see: Digital Privacy in an AI World)
Accessibility is a right, not a premium feature

This intersects with:

Second Chances and Grace - AI and algorithmic forgiveness
Mountain Metaphors for Personal Growth - Elevation requires human effort
My broader work on Teaching in the Age of AI

Evergreen note - revisited monthly