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THE GREEN
AND THE
BLUE
THE GREEN
AND THE
BLUE
Naive Ideas to Improve
Politics in the Digital Age
LUCIANO FLORIDI
Yale University
This edition first published 2024
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Luciano Floridi to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accor-
dance with law.
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Set in 9/13pt Ubuntu by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd, Pondicherry, India
Contents
Prefacevii Chapter 14: The Problem
Acknowledgementx of Leisure Occupation 109
v
Chapter 26: Climate Change Postscript – The Information
and the Terrible Hope 202 Society in the Time of the
Coronavirus233
Chapter 27: From Self-
Acknowledgements237
regulation to Legislation 207
References239
Chapter 28: Hundred
Index244
Political Theses for a Mature
Information Society 212
vi Contents
Preface
This is a moderately optimistic book about improving politics, understood as
the transformation of the possible into the preferable. It is optimistic because
it looks at the wealth of opportunities to combine green environmental pol-
icies with blue digital solutions to reform capitalism, strengthen democracy,
and pursue a sustainable and equitable human project for the twenty-first
century. However, it is only moderately optimistic because it also highlights
how politics is currently unable to take full advantage of such opportunities.
Finally, it is a book about improving politics, because it regards good politics
as the only means by which we can prevent moderate optimism from degrad-
ing into a frustrated and bitter regret about what humanity could have done
but has failed to achieve.
Liberal democracies require good political strategies to enhance and pro-
mote their potential to help humanity and save the planet. Many countries
are emerging from a protracted social, political, and cultural crisis, which has
affected various aspects of life. The changes in social factors precipitated by
these crises are evident in the fracture of the social pact, above all concerning
intergenerational issues; the reduction and impoverishment of the middle
class; poor social mobility; and inequality of opportunities. The political
aspects are dominated by the collapse of trust in institutions, disputed
forms of sovereignty, populism, nationalism, the personalisation of politics,
and a vast wave of misinformation. The cultural aspects encompass issues
ranging from national identity to immigration, and the role a superpower or
any country may play in a globalised world (and in the European Union, for
Member States). The social, political, and cultural panorama is not encour-
aging. It could be much improved. In this delicate phase of recovery, it is not
essential to be original at all costs or to look for fanciful political solutions.
Governments should not merely imitate each other in finding new universal
answers. They should instead recognise and maximise their specific strengths
while mitigating their weaknesses and identifying potential obstacles to
recovery. In light of this strategy, I hope the ideas presented in this book may
contribute to improving politics.
In the following chapters, I advocate a politics and economics of care in
opposition to one of consumption. In contrast to the consumerist model, the
framework presented here focuses on the quality of relations and processes,
and hence of experiences, and much less on things and their properties, to
ensure a sustainable environment and develop an equitable information
society for all. Given this broad and inclusive goal, the book is not written for
experts. Instead, it is a text intended for anyone interested in understanding
the present and how to improve it by designing good policies for our future.
For this reason, I have avoided overloading the reader with bibliographical ref-
erences and explanatory notes. I have also explained relevant technical ter-
minology whenever I thought it was worthwhile to do so. But above all, I have
not discussed the “debates” circulating among experts. Instead, I have tried to
address some philosophical questions directly, without recourse to the ques-
tions that philosophers ask themselves. So, this is a book on philosophical
problems, not philosophers’ problems.
As I have argued elsewhere (Floridi 2019), I conceive philosophy as
conceptual design. At its best, philosophy identifies and clarifies fundamental
problems—those with the most substantial consequences, which can have
a positive domino effect if resolved satisfactorily—and articulates, as far as
possible, the best solutions that are factually correct, reasonably persuasive,
and up to date. I have aimed to present these solutions in a logically coherent
manner. They are designed to remain open to reasoned, informed, and tol-
erant discussion because the problems with which philosophy deals are
inherently open.1 Throughout this book, I apply this concept of philosophy to
understand our information society and formulate what I hope is a plausible
proposal for its future improvement. Scholarly or rhetorical trappings weigh
philosophy down unnecessarily, concealing its rational and functional struc-
ture. 2 They are too often distracting, digressive, and unhelpful. I have sought
to avoid them.
The book is divided into twenty-eight chapters and a Postscript. Inevitably,
but also to facilitate reading, I organised them through a linear narrative, with
the first chapter as an introduction and the last as a conclusion. However, the
truth is that Chapter 28 acts as the centre of the book, as if it were a planet
1
For a debate on a short essay containing some of the ideas presented in this book see
(Buchheim et al. 2021).
2
The indirect reference to the Bauhaus is deliberate, see (Forgács 1995).
viii Preface
around which all the other chapters orbit like moons at different distances.
These preceding chapters introduce some ideas that help elucidate Chapter
28 and can be read independently. Anyone in a hurry could head directly to
Chapter 28 and read it before the others. I have structured Chapter 28 into
100 theses to make it easier to critique them more granularly, with the hope
that each reader will find at least some of the theses convincing. In closing, I
have added a Postscript in which I briefly comment on the crisis precipitated
by the COVID-19 pandemic, but only insofar as it relates to the ideas pre-
sented in this book.
Yale, 4 September 2023
Preface ix
Acknowledgement
“The composition of this book has been for the author a long struggle of
escape, and so must the reading of it for most readers if the author’s assault
on them is to be successful – a struggle of escape from habitual modes of
thought and expression. The ideas which are here expressed so laboriously
are extremely simple and should be obvious. The difficulty lies, not in the new
ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up
as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds”.
1
From here onwards, I am talking only about ideas that guide politics rather than about
good ideas in general (e.g., scientific ones).
The Green and The Blue: Naive Ideas to Improve Politics in the Digital Age, First Edition.
Luciano Floridi.
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2024 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Thus, the ideas proposed may be defined as translational, a term I borrow
from medicine, which uses the concept of translational research because
even the most fundamental findings of a Nobel Prize winner and the most
applied practice of a family doctor are not disconnected, but are instead
linked by a continuity determined by a shared interest in understanding and
improving human health. Insofar as the ideas in this book can be transla-
tional, they seek to articulate a primary, or rather foundational, reflection,
which can inform clear, strategic guidelines to implement specific political,
legislative, economic, organisational, and technical actions in the future.
I do not claim this as an original idea. Good philosophy has sought to be
translational at least since the time of Socrates. All that was missing was
the label.
Offering ideas to improve politics is inherently a political action. This is even
more the case today. While politics has always been a relational activity that
includes its own negation, such a status is increasingly apparent and under-
stood more widely in our society. Let me clarify.
The idea of politics as a relational activity serves as a central theme of this
book. Now, it is a characteristic of some relational phenomena to internalise
their negation. A few examples can illustrate this point. If you think about it
for a moment, any lack of interaction is still a form of interaction. Likewise,
a lack of communication is itself a mode of communication, because silence
also speaks volumes about who is silent and about what. Similarly, a lack of
information is a form of information because it has a communicative value:
unanswered questions may fail to satisfy our need for an answer but are
still informative in confirming our need to know something. Politics belongs
to these kinds of relational phenomena. Not participating in politics—i.e.,
abstentionism—is still a political act, at least insofar as it involves delegating
to others one’s political power, often in the form of a protest at, or rejection
of, political alternatives that have been offered. It follows that it is an illusion
to think that one may live in a society without being political. If the idea of a
social contract makes any sense (a real conditional, see Chapter 10), we must
acknowledge that it is a contract imposed on every individual at all times, no
matter whether the individual wishes to subscribe to it. Nobody can escape it.
Only solitude can be genuinely apolitical (not solipsism, which is just believing
to be alone, as opposed to really being alone). If a desert island is home to
just two people, like Robinson Crusoe and Friday, politics is already inevitable.
Every friendship is political, and every family is political. Aristotle, then, was
2
See Aristotle, Politics (Aristotle 1996).
3
The indirect reference to Goya’s etching is deliberate.
4
On the “Common Man’s Front” (Italian: Fronte dell’Uomo Qualunque, FUQ), also
translated as “Front of the Ordinary Man”, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Common_Man%27s_Front.
5
The indirect refence to (Cellan-Jones 2021) is deliberate. A system is always on if it is
continuously powered, tuned on, and working.
6
The indirect reference to the manufacturing, just-in-time approach is deliberate; see
(Cheng and Podolsky 1996).
7
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Timeline_of_iPhone_models.
8
The indirect reference to Gramsci’s “Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will”
is deliberate, see A. Gramsci, “Discorso agli anarchici”, in L’Ordine Nuovo, i (43), 1920.
9
The indirect reference to Hegel is deliberate (Hegel 2019).
10
The indirect reference to Wittgenstein is deliberate (Wittgenstein 2001).
11
New King James Version.
The Green and The Blue: Naive Ideas to Improve Politics in the Digital Age, First Edition.
Luciano Floridi.
© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2024 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Tanagræans, the Chæroneans, the Orchomenians, the Lebadeans,
and the Thebans: for they thought fit to be reconciled with the
Platæans, and to join their gathering, and to send their sacrifice to
the festival, when Cassander the son of Antipater restored Thebes.
And all the small towns which are of lesser note contribute to the
festival. They deck the statue and take it to the Asopus on a waggon,
and place a bride on it, and draw lots for the order of the procession,
and drive their waggons from the river to the top of Cithæron, where
an altar is prepared for them constructed in the following manner.
They get square pieces of wood about the same size, and pile them
up one upon one another as if they were making a stone building,
and raise it to a good height by adding firewood. The chief
magistrates of each town sacrifice a cow to Hera and a bull to Zeus,
and they burn on the altar all together the victims (full of wine and
incense) and the wooden images, and private people offer their
sacrifices as well as the rich, only they sacrifice smaller animals as
sheep, and all the sacrifices are burnt together. And the fire
consumes the altar as well as the sacrifices, the flame is prodigious
and visible for an immense distance. And about 15 stades lower than
the top of the mountain where they build this altar is a cave of the
Nymphs of Mount Cithæron, called Sphragidion, where tradition says
those Nymphs prophesied in ancient times.
CHAPTER IV.
I think this war which the Argives fought is the most memorable of
all the wars which were fought between Greeks in the days of the
heroes. For the war between the Eleusinians and the Athenians, as
likewise that between the Thebans and the Minyæ, was terminated
by one engagement, and they were soon friends again. But the
Argive host came from the middle of the Peloponnese to the middle
of Bœotia, and Adrastus got together allies from Arcadia and
Messenia. And likewise some mercenaries came to help the
Thebans from Phocis, as also the Phlegyæ from the district of the
Minyæ. And in the battle that took place at Ismenius the Thebans
were beaten at the first onset, and when they were routed fled to the
city, and as the Peloponnesians did not know how to fight against
fortifications, but attacked them with more zeal than judgment, the
Thebans slew many of them from the walls, and afterwards made a
sally and attacked them as they were drawn up in order of battle and
killed the rest, so that the whole army was cut to pieces except
Adrastus. But the battle was not without heavy loss to the Thebans,
and ever since they call a victory with heavy loss to the victors a
Cadmean victory.[53] And not many years afterwards those whom
the Greeks call Epigoni marched against Thebes with Thersander.
Their army was clearly swelled not only from Argolis, but also from
Messenia and Arcadia, and from Corinth and Megara. And the
Thebans were aided by their neighbours, and a sharp fight took
place at Glisas, well contested on both sides. But the Thebans were
beaten, and some of them fled with Laodamas, and the rest were
reduced after a blockade. The epic poem called the Thebais has
reference to this war. Callinus who mentions that poem says that it
was written by Homer, and his view is held by several respectable
authorities. But I think it is of a later date than the Iliad and Odyssey.
But let this account suffice for the war between the Argives and the
Thebans about the sons of Œdipus.
[52] See Æschylus, Septem contra Thebas, 423 sq.
[53] See Erasmi Adagia.
CHAPTER X.
N ot far from the gates is a large sepulchre to all those who fell in
battle against Alexander and the Macedonians. And at no great
distance they show the place where they say, believe it who will, that
Cadmus sowed the teeth of the dragon that he slew by the well, and
that the ground produced a crop of armed men from these teeth.
And there is a hill sacred to Apollo on the right of the gates, the hill
and the god and the river that flows by are all called Ismenius. At the
approach to the temple are statues of Athene and Hermes in stone,
called gods of the Vestibule, Hermes by Phidias and Athene by
Scopas, and next comes the temple itself. And the statue of Apollo in
it is in size and appearance very like the one at Branchidæ. Whoever
has seen one of these statues and learnt the statuary’s name will not
need much sagacity, if he sees the other, to know that it is by
Canachus. But they differ in one respect, the one at Branchidæ
being in bronze, the Ismenian in cedarwood. There is here also the
stone on which they say Manto the daughter of Tiresias sate. It is
near the entrance, and its name even to this day is Manto’s seat.
And on the right of the temple are two stone statues, one they say of
Henioche the other of Pyrrha, both daughters of Creon, who ruled as
guardian of Laodamas the son of Eteocles. And still at Thebes I
know they choose annually a lad of good family, good looking and
strong, as priest to Ismenian Apollo: his title is laurel-bearer, because
these lads wear crowns of laurel-leaves. I do not know whether all
who wear these laurel crowns must dedicate to the god a brazen
tripod, and I don’t think that can be the usage, for I did not see many
tripods so offered. But the wealthiest lads certainly do offer these
tripods. Especially notable for age and the celebrity of the person
who gave it is that given by Amphitryon, Hercules wearing the laurel
crown.
Somewhat higher than the temple of Apollo Ismenius you will see the
spring which is they say sacred to Ares, who placed a dragon there
to guard it. Near it is the tomb of Caanthus, who was they say the
brother of Melia and the son of Oceanus, and was sent by his father
to seek for his sister who had been carried off. But when he found
Apollo with Melia he could not take her away, so he dared to set the
grove of Ismenian Apollo on fire, and the god transfixed him with an
arrow, so the Thebans say, and here is his tomb. And they say Melia
bare Apollo two sons Tenerus and Ismenius, to Tenerus Apollo gave
the power of divination, and Ismenius gave his name to the river. Not
that it was without a name before, if indeed it was called Ladon
before the birth of Apollo’s son Ismenius.
CHAPTER XI.
O n the left of the gate called Electris are the ruins of the house
where they say Amphitryon dwelt, when he fled from Tiryns
owing to the death of Electryon. And among the ruins is to be seen
the bridal-bed of Alcmena, which was made they say for Amphitryon
by Trophonius and Agamedes, as the inscription states,
“When Amphitryon was going to marry Alcmena, he
contrived this bridal-bed for himself, and Anchasian
Trophonius and Agamedes made it.”
This is the inscription which the Thebans say is written here: and
they also show the monument of the sons of Hercules by Megara,
giving a very similar account about their death to that which
Stesichorus of Himera and Panyasis have written in their poems. But
the Thebans add that Hercules in his madness wished also to kill
Amphitryon, but sleep came upon him in consequence of a blow
from a stone, and they say Athene threw the stone, which they call
Composer. There too are some statues of women on a figure, rather
indistinct from age, the Thebans call them Sorceresses, and say that
they were sent by Hera to prevent Alcmena from childbirth.
Accordingly they tried to do so, but Historis the daughter of Tiresias
played a trick on them, she cried out in their hearing, and they
thought Alcmena had just given birth to a child, so they went away
deceived, and then they say Alcmena bare a boy.
Here too is a temple of Hercules called Champion, his statue is of
white stone by Xenocritus and Eubius, both Thebans: the old
wooden statue the Thebans think is by Dædalus and I think so too.
He made it, so the story goes, in return for an act of kindness. For
when he fled from Crete the boats he made were not large enough
both for himself and Icarus his son, and he also employed sails, an
invention not known in his day, that he might get the advantage of
the boats of Minos (which were only rowed) by availing himself of a
favourable wind, and he got off safe, but Icarus steering his boat
rather awkwardly it upset they say, and he was drowned, and his
dead body carried by the waves to an island beyond Samos which
then had no name. And Hercules found and recognised the corpse,
and buried it, where now is a mound of no great size, by the
promontory that juts out into the Ægean Sea. And the island and the
sea near it got their names from Icarus. And on the gables Praxiteles
has carved most of the 12 Labours of Hercules, all in short but the
killing of the Stymphelian birds, and the cleansing of the country of
Elis, and instead of these is a representation of the wrestling with
Antæus. And when Thrasybulus the son of Lycus and the Athenians
with him put down the Thirty Tyrants, (they had started from Thebes
on their return from exile), they offered to this temple of Hercules
colossal statues of Athene and Hercules in Pentelican marble, by
Alcamenes.
Near the temple of Hercules are a gymnasium and racecourse both
called after the god. And beyond the stone Composer is an altar of
Apollo Spodius, made of the ashes of the victims. There is divination
there by omens, which kind of divination I know the people of
Smyrna use more than all the other Greeks, for they have outside
their walls beyond the city a Temple of Omens.
CHAPTER XII.