IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2023 - 68

Commentary
their joining. I think this says something to us in
terms of the way that data is shaped and certain
data continues to exist, while other ideas/data
might get absorbed and collapsed into categories.
What looks like it has disappeared really has not. It
has simply taken a new transcendent form.
Lesson 4: A leap of faith is needed to
transcend that which divides
There is a compelling photograph taken by Peter
Leibing that is often referenced as one of the most
enigmatic images of the building of the Berlin Wall.
The snapshot captures the moment on 15 August
1961 when a young East German Guard, Konrad
Schumann, made the decision to leap from East to
West Berlin over the partially-built wall. Leibing's
image catches Schumann midair as he takes a leap
of faith. For Schumann and his family, this action had
profound consequences (see [17] for details and the
image). Having the courage to traverse the divide
means accepting an uncertain fate. Sometimes, this
leads to positive outcomes, but not always.
There is power in the periphery. As a young diplomat
in Switzerland, I was part of the planning of
Soviet and American delegations meeting in Bern.
Each delegation took up residence in a hotel far
removed from the other (potentially to avoid accidental
bumps into members of the other delegation
outside of scheduled meetings). However, because
it was such a small city, it proved inevitable that
some of us would run into one another and end up
in casual conversation-or bump into one another
on the dance floor of a nightclub! I think that says
something about ways that you can transcend
that which divides. As a junior diplomat, I was not
involved in serious discussions, but at a personal
level, I was able to forge connections and build
understandings that could transcend the political
and cultural barriers between the two delegations.
Such personal encounters can have beneficial consequences
further down the track. Situations have
arisen many times in scientific communities where
colleagues are sometimes able to transcend political
limitations, or at the very least, help keep channels
of communication open. Soft power is not to be
underestimated. Hard borders are fiction. Peripheries
are porous and that opens the opportunities for
soft power and influence.
68
Lesson 5: Security is a human right
In my view, mutually assured destruction is a truly
mad approach-it does not bring security. It brings
insecurity. It brings distress. It breeds distrust. I believe
that increasingly what we are starting to see is a growing
necessity to socialize the way that we are securitizing.
My own experience with the transition of security
politics in the 1980s taught me the value of deliberately
public-facing engagements. As Europeans started to
demand a greater voice in the decision-making of the
nuclear power brokers, so too are data publics starting
to demand more engagement and more socializing of
security concerns. Policies have to be packaged differently.
Evidence has to be shared. Communities have to
be involved. I think that the current situation provides
an opportunity for us. Security is not a fixed state, but it
is important to remember that when you are that sacrificial
pawn on that chess board security is not a talking
point. For people in parts of the world where geopolitical
tensions have spilled over into actual conflict,
security is a human right.
Lesson 6: Empathic leadership moves us
beyond intentions and transactions
To lead, you have to be in touch. Empathic leadership
means moving beyond intentions and transactions.
For this lesson, I draw on the wise words of
Le Guin [18]:
" We're in the world, not against it. It doesn't
work to try to stand outside things and run
them, that way. It just doesn't work, it goes
against life. There is a way but you have to follow
it. The world is, no matter how we think it
ought to be. You have to be with it. You have
to let it be. "
" You have to help another person. But it's not
right to play God with masses of people. To be
God you have to know what you're doing. And
to do any good at all, just believing you're right
and your motives are good isn't enough. You
have to... be in touch. "
Knowing that each of us can start to find ways
to connect is a powerful lesson to take into future
efforts to build security. It makes it a very human pursuit,
emphasizing once again the value of connecting
at that individual level.
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2023

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