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Re-imaging the Earth and Human Existence Thoughts on societal evolution from a technologist’s point of view. Rob Bryant, Professor of Computer Science & Information Tech. and Society Program Director. Technology integral to societal problem solutions.
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Re-imaging the Earth and Human ExistenceThoughts on societal evolution from a technologist’s point of view Rob Bryant, Professor of Computer Science & Information Tech. and Society Program Director Bryant Florence Conf.
Technology integral to societal problem solutions • Technology advancements used in most fields • Information access via the internet • Control of information is governed by software engineers who set the filters • Many major societal issues require computational power to analyze trends and model solutions Bryant Florence Conf.
History of information distribution control • Brief periods in history when information was not controlled by a few (churches, publishers, media conglomerates, governments) • Freedom of newly unregulated technology allowed periods of relative free access • Consolidation of new markets have resulted in less free flow of information Bryant Florence Conf.
Information filters • Filtering needed – • Banning content determined society (gov., courts) • Market pressures (bandwidth limitations) • Business goals (customer satisfaction) • Search results are filtered • Between search engines - result overlap maybe as little as 15% for the same query Bryant Florence Conf.
Personalization • Since 2010 when engineers realized data collected (search history, email content, sales history, etc.) could be used search results have been personalize • Search results filtered to align with past viewed pages • Dynamic – different each time • Hard to access non-aligned viewpoints Bryant Florence Conf.
Personalization limits user control • Access at mercy of secret search algorithms • Privacy traded for access • Club cards, cloud use, cellphones, gps, adwords • Circumventing filters requires computational thinking knowledge • Avoiding entrenchment a challenge but critical as our digital lives grow Bryant Florence Conf.
What can we do? • Compromise critical to harmony – need to avoid entrenchment • Programmers in a position of remarkable power to shape the future of society • need to know how they do it • Personalize our own information controls • Education of how tech. works vital Bryant Florence Conf.
Where will this lead us? • Increasing computing power will enable society to fall victim to a controlled state where innovation is limited OR • A collaborative intelligence able to find solutions to our problems where information access is unencumbered by ideological filters Bryant Florence Conf.