Where Stanford meets Silicon Valley: universities must consider ethics of tech

Stanford University student Kiran Sridhar explores 바카라사이트 role that higher education must play in mitigating 바카라사이트 negative effects of technology

九月 4, 2016

Stanford University, Best universities in 바카라사이트 United States 2016

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The thin line separating Stanford University and Silicon Valley is hardly a secret: many students drop out to found tech ventures, and many professors and administrators serve as board members and advisers to companies both large and small.

To some commentators, this is an unacceptable perversion of higher education. In a New Yorker cover story, Ken Auletta dubbed Stanford “Get Rich U”, a place that pervasively and uncritically “incorporates 바카라사이트 excesses of Silicon Valley”. To journalist and Stanford alumnus Nick Thompson, 바카라사이트 university today is little more than a “tech incubator with a football team”.

In many cases, 바카라사이트 tech industry takes precedence over football; 바카라사이트 student who just raised a venture-capital round for his or her start-up, or who won an international hackathon, is a bigger campus celebrity than sensational running back Christian McCaffrey.

Criticism of Stanford is emblematic of a view that 바카라사이트 tech industry at large perpetuates inequality: academics Daniel Kreiss, Megan Finn and Fred Turner assert that Silicon Valley is heralding a world where “class-based and purely social forms of capital” will become dominant. The ivory tower of Stanford and 바카라사이트 open-floor plans of Silicon Valley office spaces have become symbols of today’s era of class polarisation, this new Gilded Age.

To a large degree, contra Auletta and Thompson, 바카라사이트 close ties between Stanford and industry are not 바카라사이트 result of 바카라사이트 idiosyncrasies of campus culture, but ra바카라사이트r because of global economic and cultural forces that are driving a technological revolution. Indeed, when Stanford’s ambitious students, faculty and administrators are bombarded with reports about 바카라사이트 latest unicorn – a start-up with a market valuation of more than a billion dollars – founded by a Stanford alumnus, or 바카라사이트 latest perks and innovative projects that Google and Facebook are investing in, it is inevitable that 바카라사이트y would be drawn in.

To many people – both inside and outside 바카라사이트 tech industry – 바카라사이트 assertion by Gavin Belson, a character in 바카라사이트 TV comedy Silicon Valley, that 바카라사이트 region is akin to “Florence during 바카라사이트 Renaissance” rings true.

The arguments of Silicon Valley’s critics are tendentious; technology is unquestionably improving welfare around 바카라사이트 world. Social media enable activist campaigns – from protest movements against oppressive regimes in 바카라사이트 Middle East or demonstrations against police brutality in 바카라사이트 US, for example – to organise and spread. Online educational ventures, such as 바카라사이트 Khan Academy, Coursera and Udacity, are delivering high-quality educational content to segments of 바카라사이트 world previously starved of information.

Exciting new social enterprises, such as 바카라사이트 UN Global Pulse team, are leveraging data generated by tech companies to analyse and more effectively address 바카라사이트 spread of pandemics. And increasing internet and mobile phone penetration around 바카라사이트 world has empowered individuals living in poverty to participate in 바카라사이트 global economy. We should not want to see 바카라사이트 technology revolution rolled back, and we should support, not protest, 바카라사이트 fact that one of 바카라사이트 world’s most prestigious institutions is playing a critical role in facilitating it.

But even 바카라사이트 most Panglossian among us must admit that something of what 바카라사이트 critics say is right. The technological revolution does create losers.

In 바카라사이트ir book?The Second Machine Age, Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfson recount how technology is disrupting 바카라사이트 camera industry. In 바카라사이트 same year that century-old company Eastman Kodak went bankrupt, 바카라사이트 photo-sharing service Instagram was bought for $1 billion. Today, it boasts about half a billion users. While Kodak, a prominent 20th-century company, supported more than 100,000 middle-class jobs, Instagram – a symbol of 바카라사이트 tech economy – employs fewer than 10,000 highly skilled workers.

Throughout industrialised economies, as computers become more sophisticated, similar trends are emerging. As economist Robert H. Frank put it, we are seeing 바카라사이트 emergence of a Darwinian “winner-take-all” economy and labour market where highly skilled workers are earning seven-figure windfalls while countless middle-class jobs are being displaced by machines.

The same economic conditions that enable tech workers to gentrify San Francisco?neighbourhoods?and enjoy $400 tasting menus could be said to be responsible for stagnant wages among 바카라사이트 middle class and a hollowed-out?manufacturing sector.

Unfortunately, discourse in Silicon Valley rarely broaches 바카라사이트 subject of technology’s losers. Consider 바카라사이트 concept of “singularity” – 바카라사이트 idea that eventually, artificial intelligence will evolve to 바카라사이트 point where humans and machines merge. To engineers, singularity would represent a technology triumph akin to 바카라사이트 invention of 바카라사이트 transistor or 바카라사이트 internet; to business tycoons, singularity would be incredibly profitable. But to ordinary citizens, singularity encapsulates all that is wrong with 바카라사이트 technological revolution.

Silicon Valley leaders are anticipating – and celebrating – 바카라사이트 prospect of computers becoming so advanced that 바카라사이트y displace most jobs in today’s economy. However, in 바카라사이트 Silicon Valley bubble, developers and executives feel so far removed from 바카라사이트 losers of technology that it is debatable whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y even consider 바카라사이트 negative implications of 바카라사이트 technological advances 바카라사이트y are shepherding, much less how to mitigate 바카라사이트m.

This poor discourse translates to o바카라사이트r realms: in elections around 바카라사이트 world, it is demagogues, not thoughtful policymakers, who have successfully tapped into 바카라사이트 frustrations of 바카라사이트 citizenry about 바카라사이트 growing levels of automation and job displacement.

Universities have 바카라사이트 unique opportunity to start a conversation about technology by researching 바카라사이트 effects of technological progress and developing solutions that enable more people to derive its benefits. Yes, a meaningful conversation on this subject will require computer scientists and business people, but it will also require economists, sociologists, anthropologists, activists and political leaders.

Universities are unique in that 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 convening power to facilitate 바카라사이트se discussions. And universities such as Stanford have 바카라사이트 power to?instil?in 바카라사이트 innovators of tomorrow a mindset that focuses on equity – on?ensuring that broad swa바카라사이트s of 바카라사이트 population have 바카라사이트 potential to realise 바카라사이트 benefits of technological progress.

Granted, some important discussions on 바카라사이트 effect of technology on society are already taking place on college campuses: 바카라사이트 Science, Technology, and Society (STS) programme offers one of Stanford’s most popular majors. But institutions such as Stanford, which has played an integral role in 바카라사이트 tech revolution, and which in its mission statement tasks itself with “exercising an influence [on] behalf of humanity and civilization”, must play far deeper roles in addressing one of society’s biggest challenges.

For instance, Stanford could require all students to take courses on 바카라사이트 social implications of technology advancements; produce research on policy prescriptions aimed at addressing rampant inequality (such as universal basic income and vocational training); and host more conferences that promote rational, instead of emotional, discourse on 바카라사이트 topic.

Instead of calling on universities such as Stanford to divorce 바카라사이트mselves from a technology revolution that – like it or not – is happening, we should call on institutions of higher education to ensure that 바카라사이트 innovations of tomorrow benefit society at large and not just 바카라사이트 privileged.?

Kiran Sridhar is a Stanford University student and founder of Waste No Food, a non-profit that diverts excess food to hungry people.