I recently read Tim Cook’s inspiring remarks on privacy. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to check it out.
As I have reflected on his message, one thing stood out: Technology must be infused with our humanity. That requires human commitment to that ideal. Technology can’t put humanity into itself: That is our unique human responsibility.
We could say Technology is indifferent. The truth is, it’s not anything. It doesn’t care. When we say that an algorithm is biased, the truth is that the way it was implemented was biased. The brick of aluminum and glass in your hand It doesn’t care if it’s been recharged recently, or what you share on the internet. To the machines involved, the pictures and words we share on the internet (including this blog post) look the same as an Amazon order or an advertisement. There is no inherent meaning to them from the machine’s point of view.