Ethics in Tech
Ethics in the workplace
Project Dragonfly, Google’s censored search engine
This was a very interesting article, it made me realize even more how important our contributions as developers can be, and the impact we can make, whether it is on a positive sense or not. We live in a world driven by an obsessive persuit of profit, disregarding the negative consequences it may have to our well-being, our values, and our planet, which is our most important source for everything. I agree with those 1,400 google employees that had the courage to speak up and take action regarding Google’s Dragonfly project. Regardless of particular views when it comes to China’s authoritarian regime, the fact the Google considered developing a project to perpetuate their oppressive practices on their people, must have been pretty disturbing to those employees, especially after the Maven project. I believe this type of actions should be taken more often. At the end, without employees, none of the products or services offered by any corporation would be possible and no profit could be made, and shareholders know that.
Ethics in Technology
Ethical dilemma of self-driving cars
Technology is a powerful tool that can free us from mundane unnecessary activities. Similar to what happened during the industrial revolution, in which many physical jobs disappeared due to the implementation of new technologies, we’ve been part of our own digital/ai revolution for a several years now. Change is inevitable, and it is in our own best interest to learn how to adapt quickly. When it comes to self-driving cars, I like the analogy mentioned in the article regarding people riding taxis, we basically give up control to the driver, in the case of self-driving cars will be similar. In the words of Melissa Cefkin, an anthropologist and principal researcher at the Human Centered Systems practice at the Nissan Research Center in Silicon Valley: “People want to believe it’s going to be this 100-per-cent brand-new experience they’ve never had, chances are it’s going to feel an awful lot like experiences they have had.”