Why Technologists Need to Get Involved in Public Policy
Last month, I gave a 15-minute talk in London titled: “Why technologists need to get involved in public policy.”
In it, I try to make the case for public-interest technologists. (I also maintain a public-interest tech resources page, which has pretty much everything I can find in this space. If I’m missing something, please let me know.)
Boing Boing post.
EDITED TO ADD (10/29): Twitter summary.
name.withheld.for.obvious.reasons • October 18, 2019 5:48 PM
@ Bruce
I understand from my reading that there has historically been a giant gulf between technological “ownership” by the techno-clergy and the “user” parishioners.
The distance between our intellectual tools and our persistent 15th century thinking persists (70% of U.S. persons have a defiant view of the origins of human, birds and bees, and the universe).
Flat-earthers are a thing, people will willful tell someone how complex systems behave without a basis in truth–not even getting to the science.
We are so far behind the wheel on this one that the “technologists” are possibly too late to the table. Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support the direction your work has taken. It just reminds me of the early days at Los Alamos, a great goal is identified, a horror is revealed, and the threat and consequences are still with us today. Ask the Japanese.
What have we wrought?