Nonumane

Nonumane is a neologism used mainly in discussions of ethics, philosophy of technology, and speculative fiction to designate agents, actions, or systems that operate with moral considerations not anchored in human-centered values. The word is formed from non- and humane, signaling a departure from human-centric ethics in favor of alternative criteria such as formal rules, efficiency, or welfare considerations for nonhuman entities.

The term has unclear provenance and is not widely standardized; it appears sporadically in academic and literary texts from the 2000s onward, often as a provocative label rather than a fixed theory.

In practice, nonumane design in artificial intelligence and robotics describes systems that omit or suppress anthropomorphic features and moral intuitions in favor of objective scoring, risk-based criteria, or adherence to codified statutes. In ethical discourse, nonumane positions challenge the assumption that humane values must govern all moral decisions, prompting debates about dehumanization, moral patienthood, and accountability.

Critics argue that the term is ill-defined and potentially misleading, as it risks endorsing immoral acts by separating them from humane oversight. Proponents counter that it helps differentiate nonhuman, nonanthropocentric criteria from traditional human-centered ethics, though consensus remains limited.

See also: humane, inhumane, nonhuman, ethics, artificial intelligence, deontology.

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