I’ve been slow to add blog posts lately, as I’m working to complete Act II of my new play about ethics in Big Tech. Or rather, lack of ethics.
The play was originally titled Zero Tolerance, but that doesn’t really apply any more. The new working title is The Engine of our Destruction. I’m examining the ethical choices of two whistleblowers and a digital forensic analyst tasked with finding out how a certain something managed to be posted on the boards of a tech company with many tentacles, called Bubble.
I’m enjoying the writing and absolutely horrified by the research. Among my finds: a lip-reading algorithm from Oxford University and DeepMind Researchers imitates the HAL computer in its more-highly-accurate-than- human readings. Another group of researchers was able to detect the song being played in a soundproof room … by analyzing the twitching of a pot plant in that room!
All the more troubling is the ethical stance that various technological advances must be released because, “if we don’t do it, someone else will.”
Lots of fodder for subversive comedy, in my opinion.
To read some of my research, visit my dramaturgy tumblr for the play here.