SXSW Day 6 session 2: Towards more humane tech

Anil Dash, CEO FrogCreek

Code developers worry about what happens if their software won’t succeed, but not so much about what will happen if it becomes very successful and everyone uses it.  This sometimes causes unintended consequences.
Technology is used ubiquitously, but not everyone who uses it trusts it.  Ethics is a mandatory part of training in business schools, medical schools, and law schools, but not in most technology and computer schools.
There is a lot of evidence that IT is a harsh and inhumane environment.  Women, especially, are not accepted in the industry or find it a hard environment.  Diversity in tech is low – there is sexism and ageism.  Also, a lot of the recruitment in tech is referral based, which tends to keep the same profile of people – people tend to keep networks of people like them.

Evolution of markets as an example of the problems tech can introduce:

• Old markets – in the old pre-tech markets, buyers and sellers connected naturally.  I could get to any buyer inside my geographic region, or I could venture out to find buyers, or I could mail-order.
• eBay – eBay introduced a more efficient way of connecting buyers to sellers, and removed most of the geographic limitations.  Buyers had better access to a more sellers and vice versa.
• Google – The sophisticated search algorithm promises a better match for your needs as a buyer, but no one really knows what the algorithm is, so no one can tell if it provides better access, or whether it’s directed based on Google’s interests.
• Amazon – Amazon represents complete control of the markets: they can decide who sells through their framework, there’s no clear understanding who is listed first in search results, and they themselves are beginning to enter as sellers; their data provides them the ability to identify the best, most lucrative parts of the market and focus solely on those.  So they are substantially disrupting the relationship between buyers and sellers.
• Uber – Got rid of markets altogether: buyers can’t chose the ride, sellers can’t determine price.  Also, Uber are substantially subsidizing their service, not only below traditional taxies, but in some places below public transportation.  In essence they are engaging in dumping.
• Facebook – their Algorithm decides what each reader sees, what ads each reader reads, and their market is not really a market.

Facebook, Google and Uber are creating fake markets – all apps lead to fake markets.  Even worst, we are moving towards no markets, when you have automated personal assistants, they will determine the sellers for you and you won’t even necessary know who they are.
We need to bring ethics considerations into the industry, but this collides with the values of technology (then again, the same can be said to more traditional industries, and it’s still done there).  On a personal level, you should choose carefully who you work with, what apps you use and so on, and make sure the tech you use reflects the values you believe in.