Technology is driving the future, but who is doing the steering? Join Dr. Moshe Y. Vardi, Moshe Y. Vardi, University Professor, Karen Ostrum George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering, Professor of Computer Science and director of the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice University for this special event as he explores how we deal with technology’s impact on society. Reception to follow presentation in Martel Hall.
Abstract: Computer scientists think often of “Ender’s Game” these days. In this award-winning 1985 science-fiction novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender is being trained at Battle School, an institution designed to make young children into military commanders against an unspecified enemy. Ender’s team engages in a series of computer-simulated battles, eventually destroying the enemy’s planet, only to learn then that the battles were very real and a real planet has been destroyed.
Many of us got involved in computing because programming was fun. The benefits of computing seemed intuitive to us. We truly believe that computing yields tremendous societal benefits; for example, the life-saving potential of driverless cars is enormous! Like Ender, however, we realized recently that computing is not a game–it is real–and it brings with it not only societal benefits, but also significant societal costs, such as labor polarization, disinformation, and smart-phone addiction.
The common reaction to this crisis is to label it as an “ethical crisis” and the proposed response is to add courses in ethics to the academic computing curriculum. I will argue that the ethical lense is too narrow. The real issue is how to deal with technology’s impact on society. Technology is driving the future, but who is doing the steering?
Biography:
Moshe Y. Vardi is the Karen Ostrum George Distinguished Service Professor in Computational Engineering and director of the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology at Rice University. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science, the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Science, the European Academy of Science and Academia Europaea. He holds honorary doctorates from the Saarland University in Germany, Orleans University in France, UFRGS in Brazil and the University of Liege in Belgium. He is the editor-in-chief of the ACM’s magazine, Communications.
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