The complex relationship between technology, society, and capitalism takes center stage at this engrossing DLD25 conversation between best-selling author Ece Temelkuran and House of Lords member Joanna Shields (WeProtect Global Alliance), moderated by Kenneth Cukier of The Economist.
Cukier opens with the question: Has technology itself become a problem – or do the issues go deeper, are they rooted in society and the economy?
“The issue here is not the tech and it’s not society”, Joanna Shields, a former Facebook executive, says, reflecting on her role in building the ad model that has powered Facebook’s growth. “It’s the incentives that drive the technology that we deploy and deliver.”
AI will only enhance the problem of collecting private data to deliver targeted marketing messages, Shields argues. “The surveillance ad model is not what we want in an AI-enabled world. It’s too dangerous.”
Turkish author Ece Temelkuran points to capitalism itself, and neoliberalism in particular, as a cause for many of today’s issues.
“We are living in a system where profit is the most divine thing”, she observes, and especially since the days of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, it’s been “swallowing up not only democracy, but also human morals”, she argues. “That’s why we’re today feeling like we’re losing our humanity.”
The conversation also explores the role of government and technology companies influencing the political dialogue. “There is nothing outside politics”, Temelkuran observes, challeging the frequent claim of technology giants that “this has nothing to do with politics. This is all about business.”
Watch the video to explore this discussion in detail.
