The Dark Side of Technology

Forbes Tech

The Dark Side of Technology

Greg Satell

CONTRIBUTOR

For most of my career, I developed and managed media businesses in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe. I’ve also held senior strategic roles in the Publicis Groupe. Now I’m back in the US, speaking and consulting for a variety of businesses. You can find my website at www.DigitalTonto.com and follow me on Twitter @DigitalTonto.  

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

FEB 16, 2013 @ 08:39 AM 

In his initial letter to stockholders, Mark Zuckerberg said that, “Facebook FB +% was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected.”

I think a great number of tech entrepreneurs feel the same way, that they want to do more than just make money, they want to be a force for good in the world.  However, noble intentions only go so far and technology has far reaching consequences.

The philosopher Martin Heidegger quite rightly pointed out that technology is a process of uncovering.  Nobody owns it.  Once it is released it is here to stay and as much as we are excited about the possibilities, we also have to be conscious of what we are unleashing.

The Power of a Click

I love the Web.  I think what I like most is that it gives you instant access to just about anything in the world.  Whenever you get into one of those silly arguments and you come upon a basic disagreement about facts, it can usually be resolved with a quick Google GOOG -1.49% search.  We have more information at our fingertips than even a large institution had a decade ago.

It’s just a short hop from there to your location data that can be collected from your smartphone, which in turn can be modeled by use of a Lévy flight model to predict your location at any time with a high degree of accuracy, even if your phone is off.

These predictions can be confirmed by the picture on your Facebook profile, which can be used with to find you anywhere on the planet with the help of the millions of cameras on our streets and facial recognition software.

I should note here that marketers, as a whole, do try to be responsible with your data.  In practice, they don’t connect your online identity with your actual one.  However, the ability is there and the genie is very much out of the bottle.  Your full identity is only one cookie away.

Who Are You?

We’ve all become used to hearing the phrase, “This call may be recorded or monitored for quality and training purposes” and it is somewhat comforting that our fates haven’t been left fully in the hands of a minimum wage call center worker.  It’s good to know that someone might be listening in to make sure we’re being taken care of properly.

But what if it is not a person listening in, but a machine that can analyze our personality into one of six categories that can determine how we will react to different approaches?  What if that same technology was used to monitor our corporate e-mail traffic to detect when arguments might erupt?

That’s what the company Mattersight calls predictive behavioral routing.  As Forbes earlier reported, their technology has gained traction among major corporations and has already been deployed in over 30,000 call center seats.  Chances are, you’ve already been analyzed by Mattersight’s algorithms, probably several times.

Somewhere out there, a computer knows you.  Not only your name and address, but at least part of your commercial activity and important facets of your personality.

Hacking the Body

In this age of frequent travel, airport security scans have become a familiar facet of our lives.  It’s a minor intrusion given the intense need for security at airports.  However, in the future, they might be scanning for more than just weapons and explosives.

The same T-Ray technology is being deployed for medical imaging that can detect specific molecules in our bodies and diagnose conditions we might have or even certain aspects of our past behavior.

That’s not all.  With the price of genetic sequencing coming down dramatically, we can soon expect a full genetic profile to cost no more than a simple blood test.  That means that all of our genetic information, including insights into not only our health, but into our intellectual capabilities and other facets of our personality, will be available to anyone with $50 and a cotton swab.

And beyond our DNA, scientists are quickly gaining insights into the molecules that our genes produce.  The ENCODE Project seeks to seeks to create a new understanding of how our DNA affects our body chemistry and will unlock many secrets to our most intractable diseases, cancer especially.

However, the same information can be used to target people of a certain genotype.  Future white supremacists, for example, could develop pathogens that affect people with the sickle cell gene prevalent in people of African descent or Islamic terrorists could target those with the Tay-Sach’s gene particular to those of Jewish heritage.

Today, there is concern about breeches of privacy concerning our public and financial behavior.  What happens when we face similar security issues about facets of ourselves that were determined at birth?

The Eternal Arms Race

On July 16th, 1945, when the world’s first nuclear explosion shook the plains of New Mexico, it’s creator, J. Robert Oppenheimerquoted from the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”  And indeed he had.  The world was never truly the same after that.  Mostly for the better.

English: J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, worried deeply about the consequences of his work. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We now live longer, happier, healthier lives, are vastly less likely to die a violent death or to face persecution for our religious beliefs, skin color or sexual orientation.  We are far safer, and enjoy more freedom than ever before thanks to the advances of scientists and engineers.

While it is easy to get caught up in conspiracy theories by examining only one side of the equation.  In truth, for every measure there is a countermeasure and by and large, the positive effects of technology far outweigh the negative ones.

However, the immense power troubled Oppenheimer, as it did many other scientists who understood it.  I can’t shake the feeling that today, as we unlock even more powerful technologies, we have lost some of that reverence.  For even as technology opens up new worlds, it closes doors to old ones.  We should choose thoughtfully and carefully.

One thing that I have noticed in technology circles is the absence of caution that was so prominent in Oppenheimer and his colleagues.  Everybody is moving so fast, they seem to have little time to reflect on the consequences to our great advancement.  There will be benefits to be sure, but there will be costs as well, some not wholly insubstantial.

- Greg