Activist Technologists

In writing my book, Silicon Collar, I knew I would need to address the pessimism of many academics, analysts and economists about automation leading to jobless societies. I also found myself getting in all kinds of policy issues around Universal Basic Income, immigration, student loans, minimum wages, and ethics surrounding technology among other topics. In his generally favorable review of the book, Dennis Howlett wishes I could have focused more on policy issues.

I was thinking just a year ago, Dennis likely would have wondered what a technology, innovation focused author was doing even wading into policy issues. The reality is technologists are becoming more active in all kinds of policy and political issues.

Marc Benioff has been particularly vocal about same sex and equal pay matters. Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and others have expressed concerns around ethics surrounding artificial intelligence. Mark Cuban has been vocal about Donald Trump. Peter Thiel presented at the Republican convention more supportive of Trump.

I was pleased to see Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE take on Bernie Sanders in an op-ed. (btw, I have long considered Immelt a technologist. In The New Polymath, I wrote “His predecessor, Jack Welch, earned the nickname “ Neutron Jack ” for his focus on efficiency; Immelt will likely go down in history as “Proton Jeff, ” as he encourages positive vibes toward all kinds of technology.”). On the other side, I was just as pleased to see Tim Cook of Apple, while less direct than Immelt publicly react to Trump.

Tim O’Reilly, the prominent tech publisher, has been writing about what he calls “Evonomics”. I am not a big fan of Universal Basic Income, ( a no-strings-attached payment to each citizen whether they work or not), something a number of countries are evaluating. I think UBI is too fatalistic that jobless societies are just around the corner.  when my research shows automation only gets gradually absorbed by societies. Still I respect the fact that a venture capital firm, the Y Combinator, is trying out a UBI trial on its own.

I live in Florida and don’t always agree with my colleagues in Silicon Valley on a number of these issues. But it is good to see technologists more involved in policy discussions.  Our industry has a large number of smart, savvy and mostly thoughtful folks.  We can contribute valuable insight on a number of policy matters. They are too important to  just leave to our politicians  and bureaucrats.