Blaming Social Media, ACM Publication Argues Computing 'Has Blood On Its Hands'

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: In the January 2024 Communications of the ACM, Rice University professor and former CACM Editor-in-Chief Moshe Y. Vardi minces no words in Computing, You Have Blood on Your Hands!. He argues that the unintended consequences of the rise of social media and mobile computing include hate mongering on a global scale and a worldwide youth mental health crisis.

'How did the technology that we considered 'cool' just a decade ago become an assault weapon used to hurt, traumatize, and even kill vulnerable people?' Vardi asks. 'Looking back at my past columns, one can see the forewarnings. Our obsession with efficiency came at the expense of resilience. In the name of efficiency, we aimed at eliminating all friction. In the name of efficiency, it became desirable to move fast and break things, and we allowed the technology industry to become dominated by a very small number of mega corporations. It is time for all computing professionals to accept responsibility for computing's current state. To use Star Wars metaphors, we once considered computing as the 'Rebels,' but it turns out that computing is the 'Empire.' Admitting we have a problem is a necessary first step toward addressing the problems computing has created.'

Examples cited in the piece include:

Amnesty International's 2022 accusation that Meta 'substantially contributed' to human rights violations of Myanmar's Rohingya peopleInternal Meta documents saying 'We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly' in policing harmful content.

So far the ACM's piece has attracted one comment. 'Deep thanks for your long-term commitment to ethics and how you articulate clearly its challenges.'

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