How can we make sure game-changing technologies are a force for good?

New technology is always disruptive. It creates winners and losers, kills jobs and creates new ones and ushers in profound social change. But the breakneck speed and sheer scale of this round of technical change is something else – it threatens the very definition of what it is to be human. We’re being presented with a huge range of ethical dilemmas. How do we get together to agree the rules on things like genetically modified babies, the robots of war, and the algorithms that determine our life changes?

Innovations are a force for Good!

Technology companies must commit their innovations are a force for good. Technology products must deliver good and no harms to customers, and those products should be put to work to address a higher purpose that helps people and our planet. The “move fast and break things” mantra of Silicon Valley must be adjusted to find a balance between hyper-fast movement for the sake of breakthrough innovation (and profit) and thoughtful consideration of any potential negative ramifications a new technology might have on individuals and society. 

Technology Ethics.

Jessica Baron – Technology Ethicist – Technology doesn’t police itself. New technologies require us to pay attention, voice our concerns constructively, and demand accountability when people are harmed. Jessica Baron is releasing every year (7^th year now) a list of ten technologies that people should be aware of in the hopes of giving non-experts a window into what’s going on in labs around the world. The goal has always been to raise some of the ethical and policy issues that surround these technologies, not to scare anyone, but to drive home just how much the average citizen might be unaware of when it comes to what’s coming down the pipeline in their homes, potentially doing harm.

Over the years, the list has touched on everything from healthcare innovations to biased algorithms and advanced military weaponry. And while there’s been the occasional entry on head transplant and cyborg roaches, most of the issues will touch us all in some way. Our most challenging task will be to try to depoliticize as many of these discussions as possible so that we can truly talk things out. Of course, when it comes to implementing policy, politics creep back in. Clearly, we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can make headway, but that only means we better get on it as soon as possible!   

We need to answer burning ethical issues … just a few! (from NewScientist)

• Should we give other animal rights? Minimizing the suffering of other life forms is a laudable goal, but there’s also human wellbeing to consider…
• Should we edit our children’s genomes? Tweaking genes to prevent your child dying early from genetic disorder would be acceptable to most people, but we need to ask how far we should go…
• Should we make everyone “normal”? If more people thought and acted in the same way, societies would probably be happier and safer. But at what cost?
• Should we abandon privacy online? The battle between online privacy and national security is reaching fever pitch. Where we end up depends on which Faustian bargains, we are willing to strike…
• Should we give robots the rights to kill? Robot soldiers that follow orders, unclouded by human emotions, might reduce casualties in conflicts. But who will take responsibility for their actions?
• Should we let synthetic Life forms loose? New forms of life could help tackle problems from famine to global warming, but releasing them into the wild raises biosafety concerns…
• Should we geoengineer the planet? We only have one Earth. How far should we go in our attempts to save it from ourselves?
• Should we impose populations controls? Future generations risk inheriting an overcrowded, suffocating planet. Taking action may mean what was taboo is now common sense…
• Should we colonize other planets? As ever more potentially exoplanets are discovered, it’s time we asked ourselves: do we have the right to take over another world?
• Should we stop doing research? Scientific research may lead to benefits and advances, but they seem to go hand-in-hand with death and destruction. Should we quit while we’re ahead?

Hans Jonas – Philosopher – Global empathy is the ethical imperative of the technological age.

Nico Rosberg – “The next decade is decisive. We need to stop global warming at 1.5C before 2030. New Technologies gives us the opportunity to fight global warming. The word “global” is critical, we cannot fight this alone. That’s why I created the Green Tech Festival, to show that sustainability is now cool. Let’s make this cause part of the purpose of our businesses and to forward society for the common good.”