«Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.»
— Melvin Kranzberg’s six laws of technology
One of the things I was very into a decade ago was studying the intertwine between technology, culture, and society. From those years, I developed a sensitivity about my role as an engineer, or as an enabler of possible worlds.
This is one of the things I wanted to avoid:
https://twitter.com/nke_ise/status/897756900753891328
A person isn’t able to clean his hands because the machine sensors are only prepared to detect white hands! That’s a horror story that could make a BlackMirror episode.
This made me think about the mainstream perception of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technology. Lately, some friends of mine are sharing with me clickbait news like Facebook shuts down robots after they invent their own language. They ask me if robots could take over, soon. Well, I can tell you something: at this stage of technology, I am not worried about robots taking over. What I do worry about is how our inability to understand technology creates racists algorithms that reinforce our biases.
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