Oct. 27, 2020, 3:20 p.m.
Ethical Technologist Issue 8: Radioactive Lakes, Dehumanizing Others, Leaving Open Source, and Facial Recognition for Justice
The Ethical Technologist
Welcome back! Well, I suppose it’s me that’s been gone, not you so much. After my week off, I’ve got another selection of long-form reads from around the world of tech and ethics. This weeks topics range from how our appetite for electronics has helped create a terrifying radioactive lake in China, to a surprise (and welcome) twist in the world of facial recognition technology.
In this issue:
- The radioactive lake
- Extinguishing the empathy response
- Just walk away
- Watching the watchers
If you have a recommendation for a theme, or an article you’ve seen recently that you think I ought to share, please do let me know. You can reply to this email, or hit me up on Twitter
As always, you can find back issues of The Ethical Technologist in the archives. And if you found this issue thought-provoking and informative, don’t forget to share!
[ ☢️ The Radioactive Lake ]
The electronics we depend upon, from the chips powering our smartphones to the powerful magnets in every electric motor, are built from rare earth minerals. Baotou, Inner Mongolia supplies contains 70% of the Earth’s reserves of certain of these, and China supplies over 90% of the world’s demand specifically for neodymium. Needless to say, mining is big business in Baotou. This mining comes at a cost: A massive, toxic, radioactive lake where waste byproducts are dumped. But beyond the lake, the mining takes a human toll as well, as the refining processes are dangerous, and demand huge quantities of electricity provided by nearby coal-fired plants.
[ 🔥 Extinguishing the Empathy Response ]
Virtual reality (VR) is a fascinating technology because, if you’ve never had a change to try it, the feeling of immersion taps into something primal. So it makes sense to me that someone might try developing a tool to practice building empathy. Unfortunately, it seems Talespin Interactive has managed the opposite, with a new VR simulator designed to train people to override their emotional response to other people. The goal of their latest product is to help managers dehumanize employees that they must let go. Their VR experience is designed to elicit an emotional response to a fictional character that you must then fire. Through repeated interaction with the character, you learn to shrug off any empathy you feel for them.
[ 🚶♀️ Just Walk Away ]
As part of her final chapter on the Ethical Source movement and the culture war over open source, I had the pleasure to talk with Tatum Hunter about the changing landscape of open source software development. As many open source maintainers struggle with the ethical and financial ramifications of their work, they’re finding that there are barriers to simply walking away. Open source has created a set of implicit incentives that keep developers contributing, even when it’s not in their own best interests.
[ 🤳 Watching the Watchers ]
I’ve discussed the dangers of facial recognition as a tool of oppression, here and elsewhere. But it never occurred to me before that the tables could be turned. When police offices in Portland stopped identifying themselves to Black Lives Matter protesters, Christopher Howell began putting together a tool built with freely available open source software to use facial recognition technology to identify police officers from photos and videos taken at the Portland protests. He’s part of a growing movement to leverage facial recognition technology to (perhaps ironically) protect privacy.
[ ❤️ Sponsor ]
Does your business need a developer strategy? You’ve heard of developer relations, but what is that? Do you even need it? Katsudon.tech can help you navigate the complex world of developer relations. Every business is different, and we can help you evaluate your developer goals, determine the best way to get started, and ensure you feel confident that you are spending your money effectively. To find out more, and contact us to set up an initial consultation, visit our website: https://katsudon.tech/.
And that’s it for Issue 8! Thanks for subscribing and reading, and thanks to the many folks who have been sharing content with me! If you enjoyed this issue, share with your friends! If you have an article that should be featured in an upcoming issue of The Ethical Technologist, let me know by either replying to this email (what, a newsletter you can reply to!?), or pinging me on Twitter.
Until next time,
yours,
Don Goodman-Wilson