IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2017 - 17
creation of the Internet means that
decision-making often happens fast-
er than the public can even come
to terms with the ideas and proj-
ects under consideration. Before we
know it, troops have been deployed,
drones are dropping payloads, and
innocent people (including children)
have lost their lives.
1) Who is shaping the direction and
purposes of technological inno-
vation, today?
2) What motivates their engage-
ment within these processes
and fields?
3) In what ways are they shaping
society?
4) How do other stakeholders be-
come more influential in making
decisions about the technology
process?
5) How are government and indus-
try communicating with the
public about the developments
taking place?
These questions urge us not to
succumb to the type of willful blind-
ness Wiener criticized in what he saw
as the mid-twentieth-century public's
failure to resist the shroud of secrecy
cloaking military uses of science: "It
is the great public which is demand-
ing the utmost of secrecy for mod-
ern science in all things which may
touch its military uses. This demand
for secrecy is scarcely more than the
wish of a sick civilization not to learn
of the progress of its own disease"
[12, p. 127]. By following Wiener's
lead, we are instead prompted to
actively engage with - and speak
out about - the ethical conundrums
that accompany technological prog-
ress as it unfolds in the present day.
As we write, the future of artifi-
cial intelligence, robotics, big data,
and employment are being hotly
contested within many communities
(e.g., political, economic, sociologi-
cal, technical, cultural). Some of the
biggest players in the digital revolu-
tion (Facebook, Google, Microsoft,
IBM and Amazon) have partnered to
address AI's ethical problems, even
if it has been "after the fact." Yet the
members of this "internal" ethics
board, let alone the activities of these
companies, are shrouded in mystery.
The assumption upon which they
operate seems to be, "we (thanks
to our technical expertise and eco-
Our Shared Ethical
Responsibility for
Technological Development
Wiener's approach to ethics teaches
us that all humans have a responsi-
bility to shape technology in a way
that minimizes harm and maximizes
benefit, and to critically reflect on our
individual contributions to (and, by
extension, complicity within) those
processes. After all, while his work
laid the basis for factory automation
and many of the destructive tech-
nologies we see in the 21st century,
Wiener was also one of the first public
figures to call attention to both nega-
tive and positive impacts of these
trends, and to modify his approach to
research in ways he deemed morally
appropriate. In short, he saw himself
not simply as a professor of mathe-
matics, but more importantly a mem-
ber of society at large - a person
with ethical obligations to his fellow
citizens and the world.
In addition to the diverse ways
that approaches similar to Wiener's
have been taken up by scientists,
academics, and activists across a
range of disciplines, his example
offers a model for global citizens of
the twenty-first century as we navi-
gate our own ethical relationships
to the ever-changing world of tech-
nological tools. His work prompts
us to recognize that, as mindful
educators, inventors, developers,
and entrepreneurs, we should not
be building simply for novelty's
sake. Instead, we need to be asking
ourselves (and our students) tough
ethical questions:
June 2017
∕
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
nomic success) know what is best
and can be trusted to regulate our-
selves." We hope it is clear that this
perspective would not have satisfied
Wiener. Unless there is much more
transparency about what these and
other corporations are developing,
and wider involvement of and com-
munication with external experts
and the public, it will be impossible
to ensure that the technologies that
emerge are in the best interests
of society. Groups like the IEEE's
Global Initiative for Ethical Consid-
erations in Artificial Intelligence and
Autonomous Systems offer a step
in the right direction, but as Wiener
reminds us, we all - engineers, aca-
demics, scientists, and especially
everyday citizens - have an ethical
obligation. We must find ways to lis-
ten closely and to make our voices
and our values heard in these impor-
tant debates as technology's role in
shaping the world around us contin-
ues to evolve [21].
Author Information
Katina Michael is professor at the
Faculty of Engineering and Informa-
tion Sciences at the University of
Wollongong, Australia. Email: Kati
na@uow.edu.au.
Heather Love is is Assistant Pro-
fessor of English, University of South
Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069;
Heather.Love@usd.edu.
Judy Wajcman is Anthony Gid-
dens Professor of Sociology, London
School of Economics, London, U.K.
References
[1] Vernon W. Ruttan, Is War Necessary for
Economic Growth?: Military Procurement
and Technology Development. Oxford,
U.K.: Oxford Univ. Press, 2006.
[2] D.D. Eisenhower, "Farewell Address to
the Nation," U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration, Jan. 17, 1961.
[3] N. Wiener "A scientist rebels," Atlantic, p.
46, Jan. 1947.
[4] N. Wiener, I Am a Mathematician. Gar-
den City, NY: Doubleday, 1956.
(continued on page 26)
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