S20 RESET Meeting 3: The military, the police, and the STEM industry
Wednesday, January 29, 2:00 PM, Fischbach Seminar Room, Folsom Library (2nd floor)
Topics:
Last meeting:
- The nature of new media versus old. Is social media completely unprecedented?
- Yes and no. The amount of information collected by social media platforms that maximize use-time is different as well as the lack of filter.
- Digital communication being bad at conveying sentiment.
- Individual experience with social media versus average.
- Social media letting us indulge our desire to be angry at strangers.
- Utility of social media versus the amount of information they take from us.
- Different business models of social media (ad-based, subscription, etc.)
- “Politics” of social media: centralized, free-for-all, community-based
- Nazi mastodons
- Furries (still don't know what they are and I'M NOT LOOKING IT UP)
- Giving extremists a platform. Free speech versus safety concerns. Freedom means freedom to express but also freedom from harm.
This meeting:
- The historical relationship of science, technology, and the military. What were the motives of this relationship? How is it sustained? Who benefits?
- The technological innovations produced by military spending. Does the benefit of useful military innovation outweigh the cost of destructive innovation? Is it fair that publicly funded innovation is now in the private sector? (e.g., computers, the internet, AI)
- Autonomous military technology. Will the next war be fought remotely? What will engineers' and programmers' role in this be?
- The police's adoption of high-tech surveillance and weaponry. The militarization of the police. What is the STEM industry's role in this relationship and the media's role in manufacturing public support for it?
Articles for discussion
- A New Era in Tech Nationalism
- Microsoft's huge Pentagon contract
- Inside Ring’s Quest to Become Law Enforcement’s Best Friend
- Ring Considered Using 911 Calls To Trigger Automated Streaming Of Camera Footage To Local PDs
- RPI's long-standing ties to U.S. militarism