ACM MEMBERS: A CALL TO ACTION!

Our world has been animated and enriched by digital technologies used for creativity, collaboration, learning, health, politics, and commerce.  Yet there is much that is troubling.

 

We depend upon software that nobody truly understands and that is vulnerable to hackers and cyberterrorism.  Privacy has been overrun by governments and surveillance capitalism.  Our children are addicted to their devices; we have become workaholics. Jobs and livelihoods are being demolished without adequate social safety nets. A few digital technology leviathans threated to control not only their domains, but all commerce. There is huge hype associated with modern AI, and many risks to society stemming from its premature use before it is ready. 

 

Happily, we are not helpless victims of forces totally outside our control.  We can raise our voices as citizens; we can enact laws and be proactive as a society. My talk will mention steps of both kinds, then focus on what we as digital technology and computer professionals can and must do.