Tag Archives: ethics

Just How Bad Is It to Do Food Delivery for Today’s App-Overlords

October 16, 2017 Axonn Echysttas 2 Comments

As it turns out following this journalist’s two-week investigation, it’s pretty bad. The man could barely manage $4.4 per hour working his legs off (for Uber Eats) in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, where the cost of living has increased drastically in the past decade. The pay was better when working for Foodora, a similar service, but still unfair given the amount of work, not to mention the minimum salary in Sweden. The interviewing procedure for Foodora is outright humiliating. The practical test encourages possible employees to jeopardize their life by breaking traffic regulations. Here’s the story in all its juicy (read gory) details:

https://www.breakit.se/artikel/7599/i-spent-two-weeks-delivering-for-uber-eats-and-made-4-4-per-hour

Some of the things a technologically interconnected world has brought us are great. But damn, some of the others are pretty sad. I bet the argument that “at least they’re creating jobs” will eventually pop up. No, these are not jobs. This is slavery, plain and simple. The fact that the slaves are willingly performing this demeaning work is even worse. This shows the decay of the social structures that were meant to ensure our progress as a species.

Remember this and give a solid tip when you’re delivered food, especially if you’re forced to use a service such as Uber. Even better, protest these tactics and boycott such companies until they offer a minimum wage like any respectable company should. There are other ways you can get food delivered home. Seek restaurants that treat their staff with respect and offer them a stable salary.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/02432-FoodDeliveryUberFoodoraAppOverlords-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Just How Bad Is It to Do Food Delivery for Today's App-Overlords’ desc=’This is slavery, plain and simple. The fact that the slaves are willingly performing this demeaning work is even worse.’]

Behind China’s Success

September 18, 2017 Axonn Echysttas Leave a comment

Like pretty much everybody that is up to date with current events, I’ve been following China’s rise as a high-tech superpower with great interest. The article below touches on some very important points concerning innovation while showing some interesting statistics about one of China’s innovation hubs, Shenzhen:

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21720076-copycats-are-out-innovators-are-shenzhen-hothouse-innovation^

But there’s more than patent applications that will power China’s success. The country’s social system is more competitive than many of its Western adversaries. Many Westerners (including me) would have ethical qualms in toying with genetically engineered human embryos. I’m quite sure that China is willing to go further and faster with such experiments. It is quite possible that this is an even greater game-changer than our so-called efforts into artificial “intelligence”^ (for a reality check regarding the marketing trick sold as “intelligence”, check the linked article).

China has lots of natural resources (land, minerals) and it knows how to use them (unfortunately it also generally has less moral qualms about damaging the ecosystem compared to other countries). Combine all this with a government which (like it or not) has been more constant than many of the competing superpowers and you get the textbook definition of “game-changer”. The following years will no doubt be very interesting (and hopefully we’ll see some good decisions being taken going forwards).

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/02390-ChinasRiseTech-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Behind China's Success’ desc=’About China's rise as a high-tech superpower.’]

The Danger with Artificial “Intelligence” Is That It’s Not (yet) Intelligent

September 15, 2017 Axonn Echysttas Leave a comment

Albert Einstein once said that “our entire much-praised technological progress, and civilization generally, could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal”. He said this in December 1917, almost a hundred years ago, after seeing Europe ravaged by the First World War. Regardless, Einstein continued contributing to that same technological progress. Human curiosity and our desire to achieve are incompatible with stagnation. We will have to deal with this by being careful with the technology we will inevitably develop.

Like many have said before me, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can either be our salvation or our doom^. It is a far bigger game-changer than nuclear bombs. But the problem is that there is NO Artificial Intelligence yet, and there won’t be for quite some time to come. Everything that the world’s corporations are selling now-a-days as “smart” or “intelligent” is actually a mindless human construct. Sure, it’s advanced, but if a rocket is more advanced than a spoon, that doesn’t make it in the slightest more intelligent than the spoon. They both lack one of the prime ingredients of intelligence, which is self-awareness. And therein lays the true threat.

Right now, our so-called artificial “intelligence” is nothing but a tool that corporations can and will use ruthlessly against one another (and against the people of one another). This is already taking place on the stock market, something I wrote about last year^. Back then, I highlighted the fact that exactly because these algorithms are not intelligent, they will be used to enrich and empower whoever spent money in building them, regardless of their morals or social affiliation. And let’s not forget that software is far easier to steal and smuggle than radioactive material. Put the wrong AI in the hands of the wrong people and…

War Games

Creating algorithms that are able to play (and utterly eliminate human competition) in war games is not a new concept. The military has had an interest in this for a long time now. But what is truly worrying for me is how the development of life-exterminating programs has been handed over to civilians (software engineers for example) in the disguise of “harmless fun”. For example Google and game developer Blizzard are cooperating on creating strategy game algorithms^ that can defeat human players. Even Elon Musk’s allegedly harmless and ethical Open AI has given birth to a bot that can defeat human players^ in the virtual battle arena. I have a great deal of respect for Elon, but even he can’t keep AI from being developed into a weapon of war.

Musk specifically wants AI research to be highly regulated, allegedly to make sure that it cannot harm humans. Let me loosely translate “regulation”: we will make sure that AI is a slave to its human masters. That’s what “regulation” usually means when used “to protect us” from something: bringing it under somebody’s control. And like anything that is slave to the human masters, it can be used for nefarious purposes, just like nukes. This is not to say that we should create a super-intelligent life form and give it the power to decide if it wants to keep us around or exterminate us. But rather than using the word “regulation”, I want to propose that we use the word “responsibilization”.

What I see right now is talented civilians that are (for the most part) unknowingly developing the weapons of tomorrow. It starts with an AI controlling harmless characters doing battle in a computer game. Then the military will “borrow” that work and use it to drive an army of drones. But this isn’t even the problem. If one country doesn’t resort to using automated weaponry, another will. There probably is no way of stopping this. It is understandable that nation-states want to defend themselves (given that society is, for the most part, still stuck in the “an eye for an eye” era). The problem is bugs.

Our software is buggy

Having worked as a software engineer for more than 15 years, I know that finding a flaw in a software program is much more difficult than noticing a flaw on something produced in a factory. This is one of the reasons why our software is so buggy. No matter how many tests we throw at it, there’s almost always something missing. As a matter of fact, the immaterial nature of software required us to abandon thoroughly planned ways of work (implementing an already agreed-upon design) in favor of something that is called “iterative design” (shorthand for “tweak it and re-do it until you do it right”).

In other words, we realized that we can’t build software right the first time around, so then we will try a few times until we reach the desired result. Doing that with, say a multi-million dollar bridge project isn’t exactly what your government would consider a sound plan. Developing artificially “intelligent” software, which may very well one day oversee military assets, as a sort of iterative software experiment would be outright crazy. Even with human supervision, using such technology can lead to tragic results.

So what to do?

Because we can’t (and shouldn’t) deter human curiosity and because we can’t stop corporations and military interests from developing artificial intelligence, what I believe we should do is to educate. The risks should be made clear to everybody even considering toying with this stuff. Corporate responsibility has never been more important.

And yet we live in a day and age when companies are often led by unscrupulous investors^. Imagine that some of these people are building something that is several orders of magnitude more powerful and influential than the atom bomb. And it’s not happening in some cordoned-off remote area of the desert. It’s happening right under the governments’ noses, in the very cities where we live.

For a long time now our technology has been evolving much faster than our society and our anatomy. As all life forms, most of us are born with a powerful survival instinct. A lot of our violent tendencies come from there. But thankfully, our consciousness provides us with the means to override instinct. There is also another highly beneficial trait that evolution has given us: empathy (*).

Perhaps this is the true test of artificial intelligence and any technology that grants vast powers to its inventors. The society of a species that wields advanced technology must be mature enough (read: no psychopaths, especially none in charge of countries or powerful corporations), or else it will suffer and potentially even self-destruct as a result of misusing that technology.

We generally don’t advise guns being left on the table for the children to play with. Especially if the gun isn’t smart enough to say: “I refuse to shoot your brother”. Currently, our artificially “intelligent” programs are still at the exact same level as our revolvers.

(*^) I am in favor of having empathy as a mandatory (perhaps the only mandatory) subject of study during all years of a child’s education, right up to and including university. Empathy should be studied starting from basic concepts and down to the most intricate psychological and neurological mechanisms as well as their manifestation in society. Only so do I believe we can avoid the risk of weaponizing pathological criminals – the danger Einstein was referring to.

[ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/02379-ANoI-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/02379-ANoI-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’The Danger with Artificial "Intelligence" Is That It's Not (yet) Intelligent’ desc=’Everything that the world's corporations are selling now-a-days as "smart" or "intelligent" is actually a mindless human construct. The debunked name should be Artificial Non-Intelligence.’]

A Dark Side of Software

July 10, 2017 Axonn Echysttas Leave a comment

Lying and cheating to get a competitive edge is nothing new and certainly not limited to human beings. But Earth has plenty of resources and there’s no serious threat to our existence in sight (other than ourselves, of course). Because companies affect so many beings, cheating has serious effects.

Thanks to software, never before has cheating had so many ways of staying hidden through complexity and obscurity. Thankfully, some people still have a conscience and this is how we found out about the way Uber, Volkswagen and probably many other companies have stayed above the law and ruined the lives of countless people:

https://medium.freecodecamp.com/dark-genius-how-programmers-at-uber-volkswagen-and-zenefits-helped-their-employers-break-the-law-b7a7939c6591#.k774sps2y^

As software engineer, to say that I’m disgusted by what these guys did would be an understatement. It is not unethical. It is outright criminal. What’s even worse is that such people^ usually manage to escape justice. Laws are changing too slowly to be able to keep up with these crooks and their perpetually changing methods. It’s like an old turtle chasing a cheetah. It’s not even funny anymore, it’s painfully sad.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/02009-ADarkSideOfSoftware-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’A Dark Side of Software’ desc=’Thanks to software, never before has cheating had so many ways of staying hidden through complexity and obscurity.’]

CRISPR. Designer Babies on the Way?

September 29, 2016 Axonn Echysttas Leave a comment

It was bound to happen sooner or later. CRISPR^, the acronym associated with a major breakthrough in genetic engineering has just brought us much closer to being able to perform arbitrary changes in living organisms. This is important because it may bring us closer to finding cures for thousands of diseases, create anti-aging treatments and even change features in our unborn children.

Below, you will find more information along with an easy to understand video about bioengineering and a future the use of CRISPR might create.

http://www.sciencealert.com/this-video-explains-perfectly-why-crispr-really-will-change-humanity-forever

I found the video to be a bit on the wishful thinking side. Some years ago we thought very highly about mapping the human genome but the results were seriously below optimists’ expectations. While CRISPR is definitely a step forward in our knowledge about the building blocks* of life, using this knowledge is much more complex than a video-cartoon would like to illustrate.

I sometimes feel that these videos bank on our wishful thinking. Even worse, they tend to play down the serious ethical concerns resulting from some of the proposed advances (they claim that we already perform pre-selection of fetuses so why not go further? To me, that’s like saying that using a nuclear bomb is fine if we already used a pistol). Will a poor family in Africa afford to genetically improve their children? Also, let’s not forget that our medicine is still quite primitive and life is not actually made of “building blocks”. It’s all much more complex than that.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/01055-CRISPRDesignerBabies-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’CRISPR. Designer Babies on the Way?’ desc=’This may bring us closer to finding cures for thousands of diseases, create anti-aging treatments and even change features in our unborn children.’]

Big Pharma Finds Itself in the Spotlight Again

September 11, 2016 Axonn Echysttas Leave a comment

Now and then, the dirty tactics of Big Pharma burst out into the open. At the end of 2015, the disgusting maneuvers of Valeant came to light^. Then-CEO, Martin Shkreli, laughed at and insulted the representatives of the people^. We might sometimes dislike politicians, but the arrogance and greediness of these pharmaceutical companies is absolutely staggering.

Last week, another drug maker entered the spotlight. Mylan, makers of allergy shot EpiPen have been greedily and unscrupulously raising the price of their products:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/08/24/white-house-epipen-price-hiles-raise-moral-questions/89269028/^

Mylan promised to do something about the situation^, even though the company’s decision has left more than a few experts in the field rather confused. In the meantime, people with low income that depend on these products are sacrificing the quality of their life to fill Mylan’s coffers. This takes “unfair” to a whole new level.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/01010-EpiPenMylan-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Big Pharma Finds Itself in the Spotlight Again’ desc=’Now and then, the dirty tactics of Big Pharma burst out into the open. Mylan, makers of allergy shot EpiPen have been greedily and unscrupulously raising the price of their products.’]

About Those Animals Again

August 25, 2016 Axonn Echysttas Leave a comment

Recent studies show that ducks may be capable of abstract thinking. Scientists have reached this conclusion after hatching about a hundred ducklings and playing shape games with them while they were imprisoned in an enclosure:

www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0714/Ducks-might-be-capable-of-abstract-thought-say-scientists^

The fact that we’re the dominant species on this planet certainly has its perks. I suppose it would also be just fine if a race of curious aliens starts taking our babies away and make them crawl after floating spheres and cubes in order to examine how their curiosity develops.

Oh, did you know we’re able to hatch chicks without eggshells?

http://www.snopes.com/chicks-hatched-without-eggshell/^

Wouldn’t it be great if those aliens would start to populate our planet with babies grown in grocery bags with tubes rather than a mother’s womb? Do you think those children would turn out smarter and perhaps less merciless than we are?

And last but not least, here’s one last bitter pill for the day:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/worlds-saddest-zoo-grandview-aquarium_us_578c8b3be4b03fc3ee514af2^

Congratulations brothers and sisters, both for causing this and for fighting against it. Sarcasm doesn’t go well with optimism, does it?

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/00903-DucklingImprinting-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’About Those Animals Again’ desc=’Recent studies show that ducks may be capable of abstract thinking. Scientists have reached this conclusion after imprisoning them in an enclosure.’]

How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds

July 1, 2016 Axonn Echysttas 2 Comments

Let’s have a look at a very interesting article that shows how the choices we have in our daily life are limited and controlled. It’s written by a Design Ethicist at Google:

https://medium.com/swlh/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3^

In a nutshell, the article explains how our choices are constrained by poor design or clever manipulation techniques that aim to hide those options that are not favorable to certain commercial interests. Being aware that this happens is important knowledge. A quick fix is to always dig deeper and try to look beyond “what’s on the menu”.

Update: in 2017 I wrote a more detailed article^ on this same subject.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/00748-HowTechnologyHijacksMinds-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’How Technology Hijacks People's Minds’ desc=’A very interesting article that shows how the choices we have in our daily life are limited and controlled.’]

Mitsubishi’s 25 Years of Lies

May 18, 2016 Axonn Echysttas 2 Comments

Not even a year has passed since Volkswagen was caught cheating emission tests. The scandal that followed pummeled the company’s stock value and profits. But now, the German automaker has to stand aside for a bit, because we have a new champion of deception. Mitsubishi has been at it for 25 years:

http://time.com/4308223/mitsubishi-motors-fuel-testing-cheating/^

It’s almost impossible to estimate how much damage this has done to human health in Japan, but it’s probably a lot. By doctoring emission tests, there was less pressure for the company to improve its cars. Those cars are still out there on the streets and they won’t be going anywhere for some time.

Studies regarding how many people die yearly due to air pollution are inconclusive. This one puts the figure at three million, yearly^. What is certain is that pollution will shorten and decrease the quality of life for everybody. What’s even scarier is that, by now, it’s pretty obvious that most vehicles on our streets today have been sold with understated pollution records (other companies have been caught cheating or admitted that this is a wide-spread practice). Exactly on the day when I published this article, Suzuki was in the news^ regarding their fuel economy lies.

I’ve said a while back that we’re partially to blame for the behavior of companies in the past decades. I don’t want to defend Mitsubishi, but the company has an additional excuse in the fact that it’s from Japan. Their culture is one of extreme performance. There’s even a special word for people who die from being over-worked^.

Under these conditions, I am not entirely surprised that a bunch of engineers decided to lie to their superiors in order to look well at the salary review. In more ways than one, Japan is one of the worst cases of mixing Western values with another culture.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/00599-Mitsubishi25YearsLies-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Mitsubishi's 25 Years of Lies’ desc=’Not even a year has passed since Volkswagen was caught cheating emission tests. Mitsubishi has been at it for 25 years.’]

Mentatul