In an era of ubiquitous data collection, platform dominance, and AI-mediated governance, the social contract of digital life is increasingly shaped by a few private actors rather than democratic deliberation. This paper advances a dignity-centric Digital Social Contract grounded in data sovereignty, human dignity, and data personalism: the view that personal data are rights-laden emanations of the person and should be protected as a human right, not treated as neutral inputs or tradable commodities. Drawing on social contract theory and interdisciplinary scholarship across law, ethics, economics, computer science, sociology, and political philosophy, we diagnose how datafied infrastructures and surveillance-based business models convert everyday traces into profiles, predictions, and consequential decisions at scale, concentrating informational power and weakening consent, autonomy, and civic trust. We contrast DatAIsm (an extractive paradigm reducing persons to datapoints, optimizing for prediction and control) with HumAIsm, which recenters the human subject and the irreducibility of dignity to mere calculation. We then articulate a governance architecture around six dimensions: (1) technological oversight through Dignity-by-Design, (2) limits to automation and meaningful human control, (3) contextual valuation, redistribution, and incentives, (4) political-institutional legitimacy and multi-actor governance, (5) sociocultural cohesion and the digital commons, and (6) legal-regulatory guarantees. The framework is operationalized through auditable tools (principles, non-negotiable limits, and DbD checklists) aimed at aligning innovation with autonomy, equality, and human flourishing. We conclude by articulating open questions and tensions to foster interdisciplinary debate and guide future research.
翻译:在一个数据收集无处不在、平台占据主导地位、人工智能介入治理的时代,数字生活的社会契约日益由少数私人行为者而非民主协商所塑造。本文提出一种以尊严为中心的数字社会契约,其理论基础在于数据主权、人类尊严与数据人格主义——即认为个人数据是承载权利的人格延伸,应作为一项人权受到保护,而非被视为中性输入或可交易商品。借鉴社会契约理论以及法学、伦理学、经济学、计算机科学、社会学和政治哲学等跨学科研究,我们剖析了数据化基础设施和基于监控的商业模式如何将日常痕迹大规模转化为画像、预测和具有实际影响的决策,从而集中信息权力并削弱同意、自主性和公民信任。我们将"数据主义"(一种将人简化为数据点、以预测和控制为优化目标的榨取式范式)与"人文主义"进行对比,后者重新将人类主体及其不可简化为纯粹计算的尊严置于中心。随后,我们围绕六个维度阐述了一个治理架构:(1)通过"尊严设计"实现技术监督,(2)对自动化设置限制并保障有意义的人类控制,(3)情境化估值、再分配与激励机制,(4)政治制度合法性与多主体治理,(5)社会文化凝聚力与数字公域,以及(6)法律监管保障。该框架通过可审计的工具(原则、不可协商的界限和尊严设计检查清单)得以实施,旨在使创新与自主、平等及人类繁荣相协调。最后,我们阐述了有待解决的开放性问题和内在张力,以促进跨学科辩论并指导未来研究。