Some questions that should be asked about every new piece of tech:
- Does it actually work?
- What are its side effects, especially for ecosystems, communities and the physical/chemical state of the natural environment?
- What’s the lifetime carbon cost?
- What’s the lifetime energy cost? If renewables, how much capacity is that taking away decarbonising the grid?
- Will scale-up cause damage?
- Who benefits most from it and who will control/regulate it for the public good?
#climate #tech
My first thought too, specifically exclusion of / discrimination against. 😬
@Light_Journeys @dailyturnout @helenczerski
I think they could be explicit questions:
Who is excluded from any benefit by design? (the lack of #accessibility considerations)
ie: the #bias against skin color in automated systems, lack of alt-text caption in image/video encodings, lacking security and safety for marginalized people, indifference in automated-vehicle road colonization…
Each benefit/harm/exclusion, social & physical, as separate questions. The climate is an #intersectional space.
@internet_seer @dailyturnout @helenczerski
Yeeeeeessss - but I think they have to *be* those specific questions, not just "Who is excluded from any benefit by design?" - mostly because I think biases wouldn't occur to them, and if they had, the developers might gloss over them ("Of *course* they are fine!") - AND I think they should have to 'show their work'. (Prove they thought about it & consulted with the relevant population.)
It's *such* a huge job - but when it's done well, WOW. 😊
@internet_seer @dailyturnout @helenczerski
insert something here about 'knowing it's great design when you don't trip over it'. 😄 ✅
@Light_Journeys
Yes, very agree!
I think* of how in the USA patent system you have to show prior works etc, and how a regulatory body (cosmopolitan, multistakeholder) should have oversight of human technology’s deployment at the least. Although original post didn’t distinguish from research, development, and deployment.
* admittedly I only have a passing awareness of the patent system in the US, and don’t actually know how functional it is in implementation…
Helen Czerski
Liz Church
Light_Journeys
internet_seer