The challenges of the Digital Age creates a sea of opportunities for technologists and entrepreneurs. Developing (digital) solutions transforms the economic, political, cultural, and social reality of countries. I gave this talk at "Camp de Ecoinovação Agrotech", promoted by UN Environment Brazil, SEBRAE, and Embrapa as an introduction to ethics and sustainability aimed at entrepreneurs and technologists who want to learn how to position themselves as professionals in the face of so many challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. #CampDeEcoinovação #DesafioAgrotech #MeioAmbiente

1. Camp de Ecoinovação
Agrotech,
Londrina
19/Ago/2017
ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY FOR TECHIES
AND ENTREPRENEURS
Prof. Dr. Claudia Melo, UnB
@claudia_melo
www.claudiamelo.org
http://imgur.com/zXuVYA7

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I’m Claudia Melo
Professor, University of Brasília (UnB)
Technologist since 1997
I have worked as [CTO, Agile Coach,
Programmer, Coordinator, Project
Manager, Consultant]
Advisory Board Member at Mulheres
na Tecnologia
WHO AM I?

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www.paragkhanna.com/home/2016/4/19/7-maps-that-will-make-you-optimistic-about-the-future
THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

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COMPLEXITY + SCALE

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Sustainable development is
development that meets
the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own
needs
UN Bruntland commission

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Ethics covers the following dilemmas:
how to live a good life; our rights and
responsibilities; the language of right
and wrong; moral decisions - what is
good and bad?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml

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https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

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PreparingforAction.The2030AgendaforSustainableDevelopment
1 billion people hungry
2 billion people affected
by hidden hunger
but
World produces enough
food to feed everyone!

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PreparingforAction.The2030AgendaforSustainableDevelopment
>50% of the world’s
population lives in urban
areas
it concentrates 70-80% of
economic activity
Cities, particularly in
HIGH INCOME countries,
are high CONSUMERS of
energy, water and high
PRODUCERS of waste
and GHG emissions.

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DESAWorkingPaperNo.141March2015
Towardsintegrationatlast?Thesustainabledevelopmentgoalsasanetworkoftargets
DepartmentofEconomic&SocialAffairsDavidLeBlanc

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ROLE
TECHNOLOGIST

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TECHNOLOGICAL
SOLUTIONISM
Silicon Valley helping us to
tackle some of the world’s
biggest challenges by offering
us new apps for our
smartphones.

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Is
technology
neutral?

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Society shapes technology
Technology shapes society

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technology does not exist by chance,
therefore it must have a purpose,
a mission to humanity
[…]
the mission of technology is to give
freedom to the human being, ridding it of
internal or external forces restrictive of its
capabilities.
Setzer, W (2014)
https://www.ime.usp.br/~vwsetzer/technol-mission.html

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personal awareness, social and global
consciousness.
assessing the impact of technology (benefits or harms)
if it reduces the consciousness of other people.
https://www.ime.usp.br/~vwsetzer/technol-mission.html

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Consciousness implies awareness:
subjective, phenomenal experience
of internal and external worlds.
sense of self, feelings, choice, control of voluntary behaviour,
memory, thought, language, and (e.g., when we close our eyes,
or meditate) internally generated images
and geometric patterns.
Stuart Hameroff, Roger Penrose, Consciousness in the universe, Physics of Life Reviews, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 39-78, ISSN 1571-0645

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SOME DANGEROUS THINKING
•GAMIFICATION REGULATING INDIVIDUALS (THAT HOLD LESS
POWER).
•BIG DATA AND PATTERN MATCHING SOLVING OUR PROBLEMS
THROUGH INTRUSIVE MEASUREMENT OF OUR BEHAVIOUR,
RATHER THAN US UNDERSTANDING THE FORCES THAT SHAPE
OUR BEHAVIOURS.
•CROWDSOURCING MIGHT UNDERMINE OUR BELIEF IN THE
VALUE OF EXPERTISE.
Easterbrook, Steve (2014). From computational thinking to systems thinking: A conceptual toolkit for sustainability computing. The
2nd International Conference on ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S'14), Stockholm, Sweden, Aug 24-27, 2014

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Many societal issues are better
thought of as dilemmas:
we should respond intelligently, rather
than as problems that we can solve
“Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning”, Rittel and Webber, 1973

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www.paragkhanna.com/home/2016/4/19/7-maps-that-will-make-you-optimistic-about-the-future
Digital revolution
Software is a key component
of solutions for 21st Century
“wicked”, complex, and
unpredictable problems.
Wicked problems:
difficult to define; never
entirely solved (improvements
can always be made); solutions
generate unintended
consequences.

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www.paragkhanna.com/home/2016/4/19/7-maps-that-will-make-you-optimistic-about-the-future
Digital revolution
Software is a key component
of solutions for 21st Century
“wicked”, complex, and
unpredictable problems.
Wicked problems:
difficult to define; never
entirely solved (improvements
can always be made); solutions
generate unintended
consequences.
Challenge for technologists
i) understand the ethical choices and related unintended
consequences that the solutions for the 21st century might generate;
ii) investigate and co-design solutions with other stakeholders to
ensure better solutions for all.

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CYBERETHICS DEFINITION AND SOME INITIATIVES
https://on.acm.org/c/Code-2018
"Computers are essenZally a
malleable, universally applicable
tool, so the potenZal applicaZons
for human acEon and
consequent ethical issues are
novel and almost limitless”
“Study of moral, legal, and social
issues involving cybertechnology”
“[…] formulaEon and jusEficaEon
of policies for the ethical use of
such technology"

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CONCRETE
example:
logic of
abundance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSPNRu4ZPvE

26. 26Ernst Götsch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSPNRu4ZPvE

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QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU!
@claudia_melo
claudiamelo.org
claudiam@unb.br