| The greatest positive impact we can hope for in digital technology is
for more reflection and thought. Moving fast and breaking things isn't
working well any more, and may be our undoing. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." It ought to be emblazoned in 10ft high letters above the doorway to
every university, company and research institution. We could benefit from a more widespread acceptance of the fundamental
utilitarian question "How does this actually make life better for the
greatest number, and without inflicting harms as unseen side effects?" This means careful reflection on human values, and less hubris about
what we can achieve. To see how far from value-neutral your suggestions might be: > energy usage Unless stated carefully some people may assume that means "use
less". It may well be that the way forward is to use more energy, not
less. Renewable non fossil use would seem a better goal. > preventing armed conflicts Some with a more hawkish outlook might say of defence, it's actually
better to expediently and decisively win conflicts with minimum loss
of life. > reducing poverty Seems like a universal good. But poverty is relative. To raise the
remainder of humanity to the standard of living that most Americans
consider "poverty" would be devastating if done with current
technology. > STEM training Plenty would argue that we have a STEM excess and what is needed is
broader application of the arts and humanities to balance life and
create a nicer culture. > improving access to sustainable environments Most things that start with "improving access" fail to account for the
effects of demand on those resources. > implementing AI Many, myself included, would caution that a naive pursuit of AI is
absolutely catastrophic. Instead we should put more into IA. And so on. Now, I am not picking on your values here. If I were to list 10 "bare
word values" you'd be able to make similar objections and shoot mine
down. What I am saying is that digital technology has created a "solution
trap", where we see things as monotonic linear progress with "fast"
ideas that can be made into a product and a company. We see
trajectories toward unquestionable good without pausing to consider
the cost elsewhere. I recommend reading systems theory (I start my
students with Dana Meadows "fishing ecosystem" lecture) and you'll see
something frightening. The trick is not to recoil at the complexity but re-imagine technology
as a way to understand it, reflect on it in a less reductionist way. |
Move armed conflicts to virtual ;)
Something like idea of Mortal Combat movie.