In his UseNIX keynote in 2018[0], James Mickens described the terrible idea he termed 'Technological Manifest Destiny':
1. Technology is value-neutral and therefore will automatically lead to good outcomes for everyone.
2. New kinds of technology should be deployed as quickly as possible, even if we lack a general idea of how the technology works or what the societal impact will be.
3. History is generally uninteresting because the past has nothing to teach us right now.
He was, at the time, applying that theory to things like dumping AI and Machine Learning into the American justice system, but it could easily be applied here as well. It's the same misapprehension that throwing more technology at a problem will always solve that problem.
And as he later observed, everyone who's played Oregon Trail knows that Manifest Destiny often ends in dysentery.
1. Technology is value-neutral and therefore will automatically lead to good outcomes for everyone.
2. New kinds of technology should be deployed as quickly as possible, even if we lack a general idea of how the technology works or what the societal impact will be.
3. History is generally uninteresting because the past has nothing to teach us right now.
He was, at the time, applying that theory to things like dumping AI and Machine Learning into the American justice system, but it could easily be applied here as well. It's the same misapprehension that throwing more technology at a problem will always solve that problem.
And as he later observed, everyone who's played Oregon Trail knows that Manifest Destiny often ends in dysentery.
[0] "Q: Why Do Keynote Speakers Keep Suggesting That Improving Security Is Possible? A: Because Keynote Speakers Make Bad Life Decisions and Are Poor Role Models", UseNIX 2018 (https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentat... Transcript: https://www.zachpfeffer.com/single-post/2018/11/27/Transcrip...