Philosophers' Café: Code is Not Neutral: How the Software We Build Reflects the Politics We Hold

The Philosophers' Café is a public forum in which community members discuss interesting contemporary issues in a relaxed and informal setting. Dr. Ben Fine will lead the discussion. Here is the abstract:

Every piece of software encodes a decision about what matters. A recommendation algorithm optimized for engagement is making a claim about human attention. A lending model trained on decades of historical data is making a claim about who deserves credit. A surveillance system is making a claim about the relationship between citizens and the state. None of these are purely technical choices. They are political ones, made mostly by people we have never met and rarely by anyone we elected. This conversation starts from a simple question with uncomfortable answers: how do computing systems reflect the political values of the societies that build them, and how do those systems then reshape the societies that use them? We'll move between the East German Stasi's paper-based surveillance state and the machine learning models running on your phone. No technical background needed; bring your assumptions. The goal is to leave with better questions than you came in with, not with consensus.

Join us for some fun discussion! Everyone is welcome!