Keynote Address – Professor Dr. Syed Muhammad Khairuddin AlJunied (NUS Singapore):
Technology and the Formation of Ethics, Morality, and Character: Lessons from Malaysia
It is an honour to speak to you today about a topic that has become central to our lives: the impact of technology on ethics, morality, and character. We often discuss technological change in terms of economics, efficiency, innovation, or national competitiveness. But technology does something deeper and more subtle: it reshapes how we think, how we relate to one another, and how we understand what it means to be human.
Today I want to explore a few things:
First, how technology shapes ethical behaviour. Not only what we do, but what we consider possible or normal.
Second, how technology influences our moral frameworks, that is, the shared assumptions societies draw on when asking what is right or wrong.
Third, how technology forms character, our the habits, virtues, and dispositions cultivated through our everyday interactions with the digital world.
And to ground this discussion, I will highlight examples from Malaysia, a society that is both deeply rooted in tradition and actively engaged with digital modernity.
1.Technology is not Neutral
Let me begin with something we all know: technology is not neutral. It carries values, it and encourages certain behaviours. Every digital platform has built-in incentives that shape users’ moral habits.
Consider the smartphone. It gives us access to information, communication, and convenience. But it also creates a moral environment—a space where one can remain anonymous, impulsiveness is rewarded, and attention becomes fragmented.
Malaysia’s experience during the rapid rise of social media illustrates this clearly. Between 2010 and 2020, online platforms grew faster there than in many other Southeast Asian countries. Malaysians became among the highest social media users in the region.
This transformation created new moral possibilities:
First, we are able to speak truth to power publicly.
Second, we now have the ability to express communal solidarity during crises.
Third, and this is the downside, we can easily humiliate strangers, spread unverified news, and attack those with whom we disagree.
In this sense, technology became a place where virtues like patience, honesty, and humility are continually tested. Our morals, ethics, and character are made less certain by technology.
2. The Tendency towards Manipulation
Technology does not merely affect the content of our choices; it affects good behaviour, or ethics.
Let me illustrate with a Malaysian example: the spread of online financial scams.
Scams existed long before the internet. But today’s digital environment—instant messaging, online marketplaces, and encrypted channels—creates a structure which scammers roam free.
For the scammer, the barrier of face-to-face confrontation is removed. The psychological cost of wrongdoing is lower. For the victim, the urgency and realism produced by digital communication have clouded judgment.
Malaysia has tried to address this through digital literacy campaigns, including those run by the government and various civil society groups. These initiatives are not merely technical—they are ethical interventions. They attempt to restore a moral balance in a system where technology has tilted incentives toward manipulation.
3.Technology and the Growth of Moral Judgment
The digital world accelerates everything—news cycles, emotional reactions, political responses. But ethical reasoning does not accelerate naturally. It requires reflection, slowness, and deliberation.
Malaysia’s experience with online controversies shows how this acceleration transforms morality. When a public figure makes a mistake, the judgment on social media is immediate. Nuance, context, and forgiveness, which used to be part of moral life, are often pushed aside by the speed of digital outrage.
This is what philosophers call the compression of moral time: the shrinking of the space in which thoughtful ethical evaluation can occur.
The challenge, then, is not only to teach good values but to cultivate moral patience—the ability to resist being swept away by the velocity of the digital world.
4.The Erosion of Privacy
Ethics is not only about actions but about boundaries. Privacy allows individuals to reflect, to make mistakes, to grow morally.
But digital technology has blurred the lines between the public and the private.
In Malaysia, the widespread use of surveillance cameras, smartphone photography, and online data collection has changed how people think about personal boundaries. A photo taken in a café may appear online without consent. A private message can become public. A young person’s mistake can live permanently on the internet.
This raises profound moral questions:
How do we teach responsibility in an age where the past never disappears?
How do we cultivate compassion for those whose digital footprints expose their imperfections?
How do we balance security with dignity when every action can be monitored?
Malaysia’s debates over data protection and personal privacy reflect these concerns. The Personal Data Protection Act was an important step, but societal attitudes are still catching up. Technology forces us to rethink what constitutes moral discretion.
5.Technology and the Shifting Landscape of Authority
Traditionally, moral guidance came from parents, teachers, religious leaders, and respected elders. Today, children often turn to YouTube personalities, TikTok influencers, or online communities for answers.
This shift is visible in Malaysia’s digital youth culture, where content creators have become moral reference points—sometimes responsibly, sometimes recklessly.
This raises a fundamental ethical question:
Who, in the digital age, has the authority to shape character?
When your moral tutor is an algorithm designed to maximize engagement rather than wisdom, the result can be:
shallower understanding,
reactive emotional habits,
and a fragmented sense of identity.
This is not a call for rejecting technology, but for consciously cultivating credible moral voices within digital spaces—whether scholars, educators, or community leaders.
6.Technology and the Formation of Digital Virtues
If technology creates new moral challenges, it also creates new moral opportunities.
In Malaysia, we see young people mobilizing digital platforms for ethical purposes:
crowdsourcing medical funds,
organising community service,
promoting environmental awareness,
preserving cultural heritage online.
These are digital virtues—responsible and compassionate uses of technology that uplift society.
But such virtues do not arise spontaneously. They must be nurtured through:
education that integrates digital ethics,
religious and moral instruction that speaks to online realities,
family practices that model balanced technology use,
and public policies that protect dignity and wellbeing.
Character formation must evolve alongside technological change.
Conclusion: Toward Ethical Flourishing in a Digital Age
Let me conclude with three points.
First, technology is not the enemy. It expands our capacities, connects us across distances, and enables forms of cooperation once unimaginable.
Second, the ethical challenges we face are not technological problems alone; they are human problems expressed through technology. The device in our pocket reflects the values of those who designed it and amplifies the habits of the society that uses it.
Third, the task before us is the cultivation of character through the digital tools we have, in ways that allow us to navigate the digital world with wisdom, responsibility, and compassion.
Malaysia, like many societies, stands at a crossroads: between the promises of technological progress and the risks of ethical erosion. But the country also possesses deep reservoirs of moral wisdom, cultural diversity, and religious heritage. These resources—combined with thoughtful technological engagement—can help build a society in which innovation serves humanity rather than overwhelms it.
As we move forward, let us remember that technology does not determine our destiny. It reveals our priorities. It magnifies our choices. And ultimately, it is our moral imagination, our ethical courage, and our commitment to character that will determine the future of our digital age.
