Greetings, Future Tensers,
Midway through the interminable presidential primary season, Google debuted a new feature: info boxes demonstrating information about candidates’ financials and positions. Those details were supposed to make things a little fairer, but they may have done the opposite. Investigating the boxes, a group of researchers found evidence of bias in much of the information they present. Furthermore, the researchers point out that the boxes may not be all that useful in the first place, since the issues they cover don’t always correspond to those that actually matter to the electorate.
As is so often true, it can be difficult to untangle algorithmic awkwardness from human carelessness in such cases. Exploring and making sense of that distinction will only become more important as we allow algorithmically governed systems to manage more of our lives. As part of this month’s Futurography package on driverless vehicles, philosophy professor Jesse Kirkpatrick argues that such concerns will become especially important in self-driving cars, where minimizing risk when an accident occurs may mean tackling tough moral quandaries. Teaching vehicles how to think ethically may force consumers to take up such questions themselves.
Here are some of the other stories that we read while puzzling over Luxembourg’s space mining initiative:
- Fashion: In a revealing interview, New York University professor Nancy Deihl helps explain why “futuristic” clothes always lean toward yesterday’s styles.
- Radio: Former All Things Considered producer Steve Licketeig argues that on-demand entertainment technologies such as voice recognition may destroy NPR as we know it.
- Cybersecurity: That Reuters report saying that the Federal Reserve sustained dozens of cyber breaches in the last few years? It doesn’t actually tell us anything.
- Genetic engineering: As demand for meat rises worldwide, genome editing of animals is becoming more common. Two researchers argue that we should be thinking more about what that means for the animals themselves.
Events:
- Curious why artificially intelligent digital assistants are so hot right now? Join Future Tense for a happy hour conversation in Washington, D.C., at 6 p.m. on June 8 (that’s tonight!) to discuss the technology behind our new helpers and their implications for society. Slate senior technology writer Will Oremus, who recently wrote a feature on A.I. assistants, will be in discussion with Brigid Schulte, director of the Better Life Lab and the Good Life Initiative at New America, and the Washington Post’s Alexandra Petri. For more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website.
- On Thursday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. in Washington, D.C., Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will host a Future Tense screening and discussion of E.T. as part of our “My Favorite Movie” series. For more information and to RSVP, click here.
Jacob Brogan
for Future Tense
