{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Aaron Gustafson: Content tagged society","description":"The latest 20 posts and links tagged society.","home_page_url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com","feed_url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/feeds/society.json","author":{"name":"Aaron Gustafson","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com"},"icon":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/i/og-logo.png","favicon":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/favicon.png","expired": false,"items":[{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/the-future-of-human-agency/","title":"đ The Future of Human Agency","content_html":"
This was an interesting (and exhaustive) survey on what automation and AI might mean for the future of human agency. Some of the verbatims were quite insightful.
This passage from Micah Altman of MITâs Center for Research in Equitable and Open Scholarship really resonated with me (emphasis mine):
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/the-future-of-human-agency/","external_url":"https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/surveys/xv2023/the-future-of-human-agency-2035/","tags":["AI/ML","inclusion","society"],"image":"https://eloncdn.blob.core.windows.net/eu3/sites/964/2019/07/imagining-header-logo-slim.png","date_published":"2023-04-03T22:44:23Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/openai-used-kenyan-workers-on-less-than-2-per-hour/","title":"đ OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour","content_html":"Decisions determined by algorithms affecting our lives are increasingly governed by opaque algorithms, from the temperature of our office buildings to what interest rate weâre charged for a loan to whether we are offered bail after an arrest. More specifically complex, opaque, dynamic and commercially developed algorithms are increasingly replacing complex, obscure, static and bureaucratically authored rules.
Over the next decade and a half, this trend is likely to accelerate. Most of the important decisions affecting us in the commercial and government sphere will be âmadeâ by automated evaluation processes. For the most high-profile decisions, people may continue to be âin the loop,â or even have final authority. Nevertheless, most of the information that these human decision-makers will have access to will be based on automated analyses and summary scores â leaving little for nominal decision-makers to do but flag the most obvious anomalies or add some additional noise into the system.
This outcome is not all bad. Despite many automated decisions being outside of both our practical and legal (if nominal) control, there are often advantages from a shift to out-of-control automaticity. Algorithmic decisions often make mistakes, embed questionable policy assumptions, inherit bias, are gameable, and sometimes result in decisions that seem (and for practical purposes, are) capricious. But this is nothing new â other complex human decision systems behave this way as well, and algorithmic decisions often do better, at least in the ways we can most readily measure. Further, automated systems, in theory, can be instrumented, rerun, traced, verified, audited, and even prompted to explain themselves â all at a level of detail, frequency and interactivity that would be practically impossible to conduct on human decision systems: This affordance creates the potential for a substantial degree of meaningful control.
We talk a lot about needing to improve the ethics of our supply chains when it comes to mineral extraction and factory conditions, but we need protections for knowledge workers too!
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/openai-used-kenyan-workers-on-less-than-2-per-hour/","external_url":"https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/","tags":["AI/ML","society","industry"],"image":"https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/DALL·E-2023-01-09-18.12.05-a-seemingly-endless-view-african-workers-at-desks-in-front-of-computer-screens-in-a-printmaking-style.jpg?quality=85&w=1200&h=628&crop=1","date_published":"2023-01-19T23:30:59Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/303-creative-llc-v-elenis-is-incredibly-problematic/","title":"âđ» 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis is Incredibly Problematic","summary":"The myriad reasons I donât think this case should be before the Supreme Court of the United States and the potential ramifications of it being decided in favor of the plaintiff.","content_html":"Before I get into this, let me start with this preface: I am not a legal expert by any means. I never even watched Law & Order. That said, I am keenly interested in the law and how it relates to bias and discrimination, particularly if that intersects with technology, especially the web.
Which brings me to the subject at hand: 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. I tweeted about this case, which is currently before the Supreme Court of the United States, the other day, but felt like I owed it a lengthierâand perhaps more enduringâdiscussion. So here goesâŠ
Lorie Smith, a web designer operating as 303 Creative LLC, is interested in getting into the wedding announcement website game. She does not believe same-sex couples should be able to marry, so she wanted to put a notice on her website to that effect, stating that she would not create wedding announcements for same-sex weddings. This violates Coloradoâs anti-discrimination law (some of you may recall it from Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission) which prevents public businesses from discriminating against gay people, who are a âprotected classâ in legal speak.
Smith contests that her web design work is her âexpressionâ as an âartistâ and that the First Amendment protects her right to that expression. What a lot of the coverage fails to include, however, is
In other words, this case is not based on fact, but rather on hypotheticals. Additionally, there has been no injury on either side, just the potential for one. Anyway, if youâre interested in learning more about the case, you can check out the following:
In particular, I highly recommend listening to Justices Ketanji Brown Jacksonâs and Sonia Sotomayorâs contributions during oral arguments as they really cut through the bullshit and get to the heart of the case and its implications.
This is something I talked about way back in my 2013 talk âDesigning With Empathyâ: Design is not art. Art is self-expression and serves the artist; design serves someone else (typically the client or their audience). If you donât work in the industry, however, this distinction isnât always clear. To quote Jeff Veen:
Iâve been amazed at how often those outside the discipline of design assume that what designers do is decoration. Good design is problem solving.
Design is not the creation of pretty pictures and decoration. Design serves a purpose. In fact, the term âdesignâ originated in Medieval Latin as designare which meant âto mark outâ (hence the related term designate). To design is âto devise for a specific function or end.â To practice âweb designâ is to use the tools of graphic design to achieve the purpose of the project.
In the context 303 Creative LLC seeks to operate, the purpose of each project would be to announce and provide the details about a wedding. 303 Creative LLC seeks to provide these services in exchange for money, at the behest of a client. It is not artistic expression any way you slice it.
If youâve run any sort of service business, youâve likely come across clients and projects you had to turn away. Sometimes you donât have the bandwidth to take on the project. Other times you may not be interested in the kind of work it entails. Still others, you might not have the right expertise to do the project justice. And sometimes you just get a sense that the potential client is not someone youâd work well with (perhaps based on the tone of their inquiry). Regardless of the reason, however, you can gently explain to them that you cannot do the project for them and either leave it at that or recommend someone who might be able to help them.
In the case of 303 Creative LLC, Smith could have easily used this approach to turn away same-sex couples without making it a thing. She could even have a form email prepared for this very purpose! And unless several couples approached her at roughly the same time and got wildly different responses with respect to her ability to create them a wedding websiteâwhich, to reiterate, is not a service she currently offersâno one would be any the wiser when it came to her belief that same-sex marriage doesnât (or shouldnât) exist.
But no, thatâs not the route that Ms. Smith and 303 Creative LLC seeks to go. Instead, she would like to be able to express her âfirmly held religious beliefâ that same-sex marriages should not happen and to put a notice on her website explicitly saying she refuses to create a website for a same-sex wedding. She wants to put her bigotry on full display and she doesnât think she should suffer any legal consequences for doing so.
Over on Mastodon, I was asked to clarify whether the law allows you to refuse to work for a particular individual or corporation. For example, could a web designer refuse to do work for Chick-fil-a on account of their anti-LGBTQIA+ positions (a stance which I think theyâve reversed, but I donât eat there so Iâm not sure). A similar question was asked in Oral Arguments, framed as a speech writerâs ability to refuse to write a speech for a political candidate they disagree with. Public accommodations law, which is what is being considered in this case, would not require you to work on any project for anyone as long as the reason you are refusing your service is not on account of their membership in a protected class.
Corporations are not a protected class. Neither are politicians. Same-sex couples are protected from discrimination under both the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
If the conservative majority on the Court decides to ignore all of the facts in this case an rule in favor of 303 Creative LLC, that decision will open the floodgates for discrimination against people based on their protected status by anyone who claims to have a religious objection to treating that person respectfully.
For example, people with disabilities are a protected class under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If this ruling goes in 303 Creative LLCâs favor, a business owner could claim eugenics as a âfirmly held religious viewâ and refuse to provide accommodations for them. From the web side of things, that could mean they could intentionally make their site inaccessible to people who use screen readers. In the physical world, it could mean they could make entry to their business impossible for anyone using a wheelchair.
It might take a little time, but weâd likely end up in another âJim Crowâ-like era where restaurants are once again free to adorn their windows with âWhites Onlyâ signs. Where the grocery store hangs a âChristians Onlyâ sign on its door. Where the local bank proudly announces that only âHeterosexual Evangelical Christian Womenâ can apply for an open teller position. Where only women under 25 can date Leonardo DiCaprio⊠wait.
Instead of embracing our differences as a complement to one another and for the betterment of our society, condoning this would further drive us apart and foster a world of exclusion. People could use their religion to mask their bigotry and claim exemption from having to provide equal access to people based on their disabilities, gender (or gender expression), sexual orientation, racial characteristics, religion, age, or any other protected category. Thatâs not a world I want to live in nor is it a future I want for my kid.
If it comes to pass, I suppose the one silver lining is that weâll learn what companies deserve our business, but that hardly outweighs the potential harms for people who need access to food, clothing, shelter, information, and other necessities for existence both online and off that are supposed to be guaranteed by anti-discrimination laws.
Itâs all in the Supreme Courtâs hands at this point, but I am more than a little concerned with what this could mean for the future here in the United States.
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/303-creative-llc-v-elenis-is-incredibly-problematic/","tags":["accessibility","business","design","industry","society"],"image":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/i/posts/2022-12-13/hero.jpg","date_published":"2022-12-13T21:03:25Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/a-national-day-of-mourning/","title":"đ A National Day of Mourning","content_html":"If you live in the U.S., please take the time to learn the real history of Thanksgiving, rather than clinging to the B.S. we were taught in school. This weekâs episode of Native Opinion is a good place to begin that journey.
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/a-national-day-of-mourning/","external_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/user/indigenous/episode-417-a-national-day-of-mourning","tags":["society"],"image":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_facebook_share/images.spreaker.com/original/1a7165b1180d4a8e9217f20a5042d9ae.jpg","date_published":"2022-11-26T04:56:24Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/how-to-talk-about-disability-sensitively-and-avoid-ableist-tropes/","title":"đ How to talk about disability sensitively and avoid ableist tropes","summary":"The way we discuss peopleâs capabilities and disabilities is rife with ableist language and concepts. This piece from NPR offers a starting point for talking about disability without being offensive.","content_html":"The way we discuss peopleâs capabilities and disabilities is rife with ableist language and concepts. This piece from NPR offers a starting point for talking about disability without being offensive.
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/how-to-talk-about-disability-sensitively-and-avoid-ableist-tropes/","external_url":"https://www.npr.org/2022/08/08/1115682836/how-to-talk-about-disability-sensitively-and-avoid-ableist-tropes","tags":["accessibility","empathy","inclusion","society"],"image":"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/08/04/disability-pride-2_wide-74b7894c08644da3fec8f18dba71225001d24c74.jpg?s=1400","date_published":"2022-09-09T21:38:28Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/when-engineers-become-whistle-blowers/","title":"đ When Engineers Become Whistle-Blowers","content_html":"Ralph Nader is absolutely right:
âWe need more engineers who embody the three principles of any profession â independence, scholarly pursuits, and commitment to public service. Those are the vital ethical pillars to helping engineers withstand the great pressures to place commercial priorities over their engineering integrity and limit harm to the public.â
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/when-engineers-become-whistle-blowers/","external_url":"https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/when-engineers-become-whistleblowers/","tags":["industry","society"],"image":"https://static.scientificamerican.com/blogs/cache/file/75FD8177-0CC5-4829-BEBE66F3248FBBB7.jpg","date_published":"2019-05-15T14:36:52Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/online-hate-is-a-deadly-threat-when-will-tech-companies-finally-take-it-seriously-/","title":"đ Online hate is a deadly threat. When will tech companies finally take it seriously?","content_html":"I am 100% in favor of social media platforms taking a proactive stance against online harassment, bullying, threats, and the like. Sadly, few are doing much (if anything about it).
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/online-hate-is-a-deadly-threat-when-will-tech-companies-finally-take-it-seriously-/","external_url":"https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/01/opinions/social-media-hate-speech-cullors/index.html","tags":["society"],"image":"https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180727134635-twitter-facebook-icon-iphone.jpg?q=w_800,c_fill","date_published":"2018-11-01T20:48:55Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/time-to-modernize-government-websites/","title":"đ Reps. Khanna and Ratcliffe: Itâs Time to Modernize Government Websites","content_html":"Tech companies also need to make their content moderation training materials publicly available so anti-hate advocates and the public can make sure the trainings accurately reflect what we need to feel safe on these platforms. Recent leaks of moderation materials have shown these documents to be woefully inadequate â one leak of a Facebook manual featured passages lifted straight from Wikipedia. When asked for comment by one media outlet, Facebook directed it to the âcommunity standardsâ document the company released to the public. A $500 billion company such as Facebook should have higher standards than a college freshman rushing to finish a term paper.
Hear, hear!
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/time-to-modernize-government-websites/","external_url":"https://www.wired.com/story/time-to-modernize-government-websites/","tags":["society","user experience"],"image":"https://media.wired.com/photos/5b369eae440082328b06d023/191:100/w_1280,c_limit/fed_outdated-FINAL.jpg","date_published":"2018-07-03T23:36:58Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/the-internet-isn-t-forever-/","title":"đ The Internet Isnât Forever","content_html":"Government is supposed to work for the American people, and we owe it to them to do a better job. The tools we need to restore the United Statesâ global leadership in technology and digital government are already at our fingertips. Now itâs time to act.
This excellent piece breaks down many of the issues around what it means (in the larger, societal sense) to store information digitally.
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/links/the-internet-isn-t-forever-/","external_url":"https://longreads.com/2018/02/20/the-internet-isnt-forever/","tags":["the web","the future","society"],"image":"https://longreadsblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/bustillos-full-774x10241-e1519013270135.jpg","date_published":"2018-02-28T20:33:35Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/im-voting-for-oscar/","title":"âđ» Iâm voting for Oscar","summary":"My son Oscar is Black and I fear for his future in Trumpâs America.","content_html":"In the 21st century, more and more information is âborn digitalâ and will stay that way, prone to decay or disappearance as servers, software, Web technologies, and computer languages break down. The task of internet archivists has developed a significance far beyond what anyone could have imagined in 2001, when the Internet Archive first cranked up the Wayback Machine and began collecting Web pagesâŠ
This is my son Oscar. In case you canât see the picture, he looks nothing like me because heâs adopted. Heâs also frigginâ adorable, but thatâs not why Iâm writing this. Iâm writing this because my son is Black and despite the fact that he will grow up in a family that has the means to provide him with a good education and far more opportunity than a lot of children in Americaâincluding meâthe sheer fact that his skin is dark means he will grow up in a far different America than I did.
He will be suspected when he enters a store. He will be treated differently in school. He will be policed differently. If he commits a crime, he will be six times more likely to be incarcerated than his white friends in daycare; and if itâs a drug offense, heâll be ten times more likely to serve time.
He will be feared by default. He will be suspected by default. He will be guilty by default. All because heâs Black.
I donât want him to grow up in an America where he could have his life ended during a traffic stop for a broken tail light. I listened to Diamond Reynoldsâ recording of Philando Castile dying and I had to stop the car and cry; I couldnât bear to watch the video. He was someone elseâs son. Someone elseâs little boy.
This is not the America I want Oscar to grow up in and we have an opportunity to change it. I fully recognize that the societal issues that underly the way we (as a nation) treat the Black community and other people of color in the U.S. are not new, nor are they going to go away overnight. Itâs going to take time and commitment to making it happen.
What I also know, however, is that electing a president who proposes racist policies, uses racist rhetoric, and gins up racial tensions among his supporters is not going to make America a safer place for Oscar to grow up. A man who routinely derides and demonizes immigrant populations of varying shades (despite marrying numerous immigrants himself) is not going to lead us to be a more inclusive nation. And a man who has a history of treating the Black community unfairly is not going to be the champion we need to help unify our different racial and ethnic communities into that melting pot of ideas and cultures weâve been taught is Americaâs greatest strength.
When I go to the polls this Fall to help my country choose its next leader, I will be thinking of my son and all of the other children in this great nation of ours. I will think about the future America they stand to inherit and I will vote against Donald Trump. I hope you will join me in taking a stand against fear, against further segregation of our society, and against racism. America is already great, and it will be much better without Trump.
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/im-voting-for-oscar/","tags":["personal","society","the future"],"date_published":"2016-10-11T12:06:49Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/what-are-keys-to-success/","title":"âđ» What are keys to success?","summary":"What makes me feel successful? The Golden Rule.","content_html":"The other day I got a message from someone Iâve been mentoring via email. His question was one I think a lot of folks in our industry struggle with:
Can you please tell what are keys to success and what should I do to become a successful programmer and software engineer? Anything is appreciated.
Thatâs a tough one. âSuccessâ can be defined in so many ways. Is success making truckloads of money? Is it having 100,000 Twitter followers? Is it getting invited to speak at conferences in exotic locations? Those are very external notions of success, perhaps itâs more personal: Feeling like youâve accomplished what you set out to do. Feeling like your life has meaning. Finding joy in both your work and your play. With so many ways to define success, thereâs no magic formula for achieving it.
Unsure how to answer this perplexing question, I decided to answer by sharing what makes me feel successfulâthe Golden Rule. I used the Islamic version in my response:
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.
That I chose the Islamic version had more to do with where my protege resides than anything else. This concept is universal, cropping up in nearly every faith and philosophy as well as in numerous cultural proverbs:
Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. (Bahaâi)
One should seek for others the happiness one desires for oneâs self. (Buddhism)
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (Chrisitianity)
Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence. (Confucianism)
He sought for others the good he desired for himself. Let him pass on! (Egyptian)
Donât go around hurting people, and Try to understand things. (Hopi)
Humanists acknowledge human interdependence, the need for mutual respect and the kinship of all humanity. (Humanism)
In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self. (Jainism)
One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts. (Nigerian)
Do as you would be done by. (Persian)
Then thereâs my personal favorite, from Judaism:
What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire law; all the rest is commentary.
The Golden Rule is a wonderful tool for helping maintain balance in your life, business, and relationships. And so, I followed this recommendation proverb with a bit more detail on how I feel we can embody this philosophy:
My twelve years of Catholic schooling drummed the proverb âto whomever much is given, much will be requiredâ into my head, which accounts for my emphasis on sharing. I know that my âsuccessââas I define it at leastâhas been made possible by the generosity of others. And so I think itâs my duty to âpay it forwardâ and I look for every opportunity to create opportunities for others.
In my experience, living life this wayâor at least improving on it a bit each dayâmakes me feel successful. Perhaps it will work for you as well.
Note: Passing along this tiny bit of wisdom made me feel successful today :-)
","url":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/what-are-keys-to-success/","tags":["society","personal","philosophy"],"date_published":"2016-06-01T15:18:31Z"},{"id":"https://www.aaron-gustafson.com/notebook/i-dont-want-to-teach-the-world-to-code/","title":"âđ» I Donât Want to Teach the World to Code⊠I Want to Teach the World to Problem Solve","summary":"Iâve been wrestling for a while with the notion of âcodingâ being a necessary 21st century skill.","content_html":"It seems that every other day a new code school opens it doors. In my mid-sized city, Chattanooga, there are no fewer than three businesses centered around teaching âcodingâ classes1 that I am aware of. And there are at least a half-dozen free or community driven programs and camps on top of that. Most are aimed at youth, but some offer adult education as well. And that, of course, is over and above whatâs available in our public and private schools (which is considerable) and a plethora of online options.
On one hand I think this is great. I love to code and I love to share my knowledge of that world with anyone who will listen (Iâm sorry, Kelly). Also, as someone who ran a web design studio, I know first hand how hard it is to find talented people to hire. More coders equals a larger talent pool; itâs simple math.
Currentlyâat least here in the U.S.âthe numbers arenât where we need them to be. We just arenât graduating enough STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) students. And the pressure to fill open positions has led to a lot of outsourcing and an increased demand for employment visas. As an unemployed or unhappy worker, making yourself employable as a coder sounds like a win-win.
Couple this with the constant barrage of news about startup acquisitions and funding rounds and it certainly seems like learning to code is your key to financial stability if not extreme wealth. (The âAmerican Dream,â right?) But itâs not.
As Jerry Davis pointed out so deftly in the Harvard Business Review, the vast majority of startups donât succeed. Learning to code is not a guarantee of wealth and success. And, letâs be honest, not everyone is wired for coding and thatâs okay.
So Iâm not sure everyone needs to learn to code. That said, I think this movement (if you can call it that) has merit.
First off, on the Web side of things, I think learning to code can be empowering. The Web is for everyone and I love to see more and more people using it as a tool to amplify their voices and to build community across the globe. So for that reason alone Iâm thrilled these programs exist.
The other reason I like that people are learning to code is that it changes how they see and deal with problems.
As a programmer, I am forced to break lumbering, gnarly problems into simpler, accomplishable tasks. Iâm forced to think about cause and effect, of process, of the steps required to achieve the desired outcome.
I also experience failure. Constantly. Iâve learned to find the errors in my own logic, to second guess myself, to refine and improve, to refactor my code and my brain. This constant refinement helps me achieve a deeper understanding of my tools and my medium.
To me, those lessons (taught to me through nearly 20 years of coding) are invaluable. These are the sorts of lessons I wish they taught in school, but sadly the U.S. has largely done away with reason and critical thinking in favor of memorization and regurgitation. So maybe itâs something we need to learn at home. Or in a coding class.
Regardless, if the world was filled with curious people who asked questions, applied logic, and refined their understanding of the challenges they see every day, I canât help but think we would all be far better off.
I should note that I am lumping a bunch of stuff into the umbrella of âcodingâ because some of these teach front-end web technologies, others teach those plus back-end stuff in PHP or Python, and others teach maker-style classes focused around robotics and DIY electronics like Arduino. â©ïž