IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2015 - 3

president's message

Greg Adamson

SSIT Past and Future

he year 1962 saw
the publication of
at least three important works related to
technology and society. Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, described the technical failures
and environmental impact of the
insecticide DDT. E.F. Schumacher, an
economist, discussed "intermediate
technology" in addressing the often
difficult rollout of new technologies
to developing countries. Thomas
Kuhn, who had trained as a physicist, explained that science, and by
implication technology, was something that humans engage in, and
which therefore suffers the foibles of
all human activity.
Ten years later, in 1972, the Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) was first formed within
IEEE. In the following decades, these
ideas were argued, debated, revised,
expanded - and seen among many
in the engineering community as
issues that needed to be considered.
In subsequent decades, environmental, development, ethical, and other societal concerns
were felt throughout the technical
professions. In many cases it was
the technology community that
had the skills and knowledge to
address challenges created by pre-

ceding technology, such as cleaning up pollution.
By the 2000s, IEEE had
embraced the need for technologists to take responsibility for our
work. The tagline "Advancing Technology for Humanity" places IEEE
among those who consciously want
to make the world a better place.
Through IEEE's Code of Ethics
(point 5) IEEE members agree "to
improve the understanding of technology; its appropriate application,
and potential consequences."
So has SSIT fulfilled its task? The
insights of the 1960s and 1970s are
now an accepted part of our ethical
compass. There is no evidence, however, that the world is simplifying.
Three key ethical challenges I see in
coming decades are: the future of
work; the prospect of autonomous
warfare; and the interface between
humans and machines. Last year
SSIT co-sponsored a conference
on Norbert Wiener in Boston, and
in July 2016 a second conference

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2015.2403751
Date of publication: 23 March 2015

MARCH 2015

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

will be held at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Wiener had
written on each of these challenges
from a technology and society perspective in the 1940s and 1950s.

Drawing on Members
Since taking office as IEEE-SSIT President, I have discovered that something over one-fifth of our members
are either IEEE Fellows, Life Members, or both. This represents an
enormous depth of talent, and
I would like to finish this column
with a challenge: how can SSIT benefit from this knowledge and experience, in engaging with IEEE, but
also with the wider technology community and society at large? You can
send any ideas to g.adamson@ieee.
org, and I promise to respond.
Greg Adamson, 2015 IEEE-SSIT
President, is with the School of Engineering, University of Melbourne,
Australia. Email: g.adamson@ieee.
org.

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