New technologies between law and ethics: some reflections.

This article proposes a reflection on the relationship between new technologies and human rights from an ethical and legal point of view. The relevance of the debate is testified by numerous initiatives and measures, both European and international, which aim to offer answers, necessarily not definitive but evolving, to phenomena such as the development of the Internet of Things and, more generally, advances in robotics. In this perspective, issues such as the respect for privacy and human dignity are raised, to be balanced with the right to inform and be informed, as a sign of an effectively shared knowledge. What emerges is the need of a deep critical consideration of the guarantee of individual and collective spheres of action removed from the domination of market interests, in the affirmation of prevailing and non-negotiable rights. Equally indispensable is a critical attention given to the limits to be placed on human manipulation and alteration, and on the relationship between human being and machine. This assumes a particular ethical, legal and prescriptive meaning aimed at guaranteeing the pluralism of values and dialogue typical of every democratic society.