2020: A Turning Point for Humane Technology…
DISCLAIMER: This post includes my opinions based on my career in technology for over 23 years. I am writing this because I believe I have unique knowledge and experience that can help others understand how we got to this point and how to make it better. It does not reflect the opinions of my employer or any employers I have had in the past. For my fellow nerds reading this, I have been an engineer, an architect and a CTO. I have built teams of Data Scientists, built APIs and helped tune machine learning algorithms that run in large Hadoop clusters to solve problems in Health, Finance, Retail and Telecomm. I have been writing code for over 25 years. From procedural languages like PASCAL to interpreted languages like Python and Javascript, I have been fortunate enough to touch a lot of it. Technology is more than a career for me, it’s an obsession. This post is intended to help raise our collective technology awareness. I believe this awareness is critical to maturing humanities’ usage of these new, exciting and dangerous tools. I often feel at this time in history, humanity is the equivalent of a baby walking around with a light saber. We could kill our selves or we could create the Jedi Council! I know which one I would prefer. I feel an obligation and responsibility to ‘open source’ my beliefs in this area. I am hoping this post will help others focus on developing their own digital intelligence and awareness. If this doesn’t sound interesting to you stop reading now, but I can promise you if 2020 has proved one thing…ignorance is NOT bliss in this case. With that out of the way…
Last night I watched /the social dilemma_ on Netflix. It hit a chord with me because I have hands-on experience building, selling, and tuning the technologies that are referenced in this movie. While I do feel this movie over-dramatizes some aspects, the theme of this movie is in complete alignment with my experience. These technologies have been around for 10+ years and were developed to feed the open markets of capitalism and solve hard problems in health, science, communication, transportation and much more. As a result, it has created the most wealth in human history. These technologies are so powerful that I (and many others) believe they have raised the attention of ‘bad actors’. As with many strengths, when over-used, it can become a weakness. This weakness (which is present in all Democratic/Capitalistic countries) is actively being exploited all over the globe. Democracies are being weakened by using the same channels and technologies we use to influence buyers. The same engine that social media uses to sell you those new shoes from REI or that new fishing rod you’ve been eyeballing from Cabela’s is now being used to sell and promote the conspiracies that are tailored to your preferences. The engine doesn’t care if it’s true or false, it is trained to push the content that is paid for…and it is extremely accurate. The engine knows what you like, who you like, how long you’ve liked it. The more you click, watch, and scroll, the better the engine gets at knowing you. The better it knows you, the better it can steer you in a particular direction. I believe in due time we will learn that these engines are being used to exploit our democratic principles and their tight economic integrations. The same hope and faith that has made us strong and trust each other, is now being leveraged to push very targeted disinformation to amplify our distrust, creating anger and discourse. All the while you can’t understand how others don’t get it!? Well they don’t get it because they don’t get targeted with the same content. The engine is being used (legally by the way) to push them the opposite viewpoint and create larger division and discourse. This is NOT unique to either party — it happens on both sides of the aisle. This was never the intention of the AI technology that social media platforms use. The AI was developed to help solve complex problems and sell widgets, not create division. In the hands of the wrong people it has inhibited our ability to vote based on real facts, respond to pandemics and participate in healthy debate on complex topics like police, crime and racism. Oh and by they way, guns won’t help in this fight. While we white-knuckle the guns we own, our foe(s) will stir the pot to convince us we need more of them. Meanwhile, bullets and steel will do nothing in this silicone-based battle. We are literally bringing guns to a computer fight! We are being played.
The genie is out of the bottle, so what do we do?
- Be conscious and stop feeding the Beast! Free will still exists. You don’t have to participate. You can get off social media. You can resist the click. You can read articles you wouldn’t normally read. You can call your friend or have a drink with them to discuss your opinion. Don’t use these platforms to get your self-worth, it’s a tool not a relationship. Demote social media’s priority in your life, and teach the young people in your family to do the same. This is one of the most critical points to me. We have a whole generation of children who don’t know the potential for manipulation. To be clear, I am not arguing for you to abolish social media from their lives. You obviously can do that if you chose, but at least make sure they don’t use it until they are able to understand what is going on behind the screen.
- Awareness & Responsibility. If you are going to share something on social media, you can’t claim ignorance. Just because you didn’t know the speed limit doesn’t mean you can ignore it. You will still get a ticket. This is the same…you have a responsibility to verify what you spread on social media. If you get three DUI’s you may have to drive around with a red license plate. The reason is because your actions have put others in danger. You can argue that this infringes on your civil rights, but if you have established a history of being out of control, others have a right to know so they can protect themselves. Social media comes with the same responsibility. If you fall short of community established standards, you will eventually be digitally stamped with a “scarlet letter”. Social media platforms are already putting these wheels in motion using AI to help combat the abuse. People often disagree with the standards that social medial platforms are starting to develop. It is often suggested these platforms are violating their 1st Amendment rights. However, with no government regulation or guidelines, these platforms are left to do it on their own. As a result, they will often develop different rules and community standards hinged on the monetization of their platform, which can often be in conflict with your safety.
- Value Information Quality. Those who didn’t like homework in school aren’t going to like this one. Question your sources and go the extra mile to verify facts. Opinions aren’t facts and those who try to pass opinions as facts are feeding this beast. And yes, you should question and verify everything I’m writing here! Plain and simple, don’t share anything you can’t verify.
- Engage in face-to-face dialogue. Eat, drink and socialize with those that have other opinions. Don’t reference the article you read on Facebook, talk about your values and your principles. I bet you find more in common than in difference. More importantly, when you find a difference, you can discuss it and have empathy for the opposing view because you know context and tone…which is one thing social media/email/text can’t provide, but is critical for effective communication.
- Protect your digital self. Vote for policies that regulate and protect you as a digital user. Your data is being used to generate massive wealth. While companies do need to be regulated, there are others who are using your data for nefarious purposes. Either way, the point is your data has value and it’s yours…the privacy and protection of it is a new technical civil right for all human beings. Look for politicians (both Red and Blue) who get this and are fighting for your protection.
While the theme here could be interpreted as pessimistic, quite the opposite is true in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, the amount of pain and discourse around the globe is mind numbing at times. However, this is commensurate with the power and speed with which this technology can transform. Through out time we’ve seen innovation and technology stretch the fabric of human cultures…this is no different. To match and harness the power, we need to build new skills and regulation to help. I believe we can do it…the data supports it and I don’t need Artificial Intelligence to tell me. I’m hoping you don’t either.
