How people and technology are growing together

As part of the TEC Days, the Center for Technology & Society (CTS) organised the TU Austria Content Session at the European Forum Alpbach. The aim was to critically examine the increasing fusion of humans and technologies from different perspectives, to discuss possible solutions and to develop strategies for shaping the inevitable (r)evolution of socio-technical hybrids.
 

The ongoing digitalisation of society is causing an increasing merging of humans and technologies. This results in socio-technical hybrids that require critical examination. The challenge is to use future technological innovations to solve global problems without losing sight of the human aspect. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and algorithmic decision-making, as well as specific applications such as autonomous driving, smart cities and the digitalisation of public administration, have enormous potential. However, in order to use them in a safe, sustainable, fair and value-based way, transdisciplinary and cross-industry discourse is needed.
 

The world of bits and bytes

Ben Wagner, head of the AI Futures Lab at TU Delft, opened the session with his keynote ‘The ground beneath our feet?’ He emphasised that we already live in a world of socio-technical hybrids and have no choice but to deal with these hybrids. Questions of power, regulation and human authority are directly influenced by socio-technical systems that are only partially neutral. Digital information appears to be objective, but is often not so, or has a political background that is not immediately apparent. In order to successfully develop societies, these systems must be made more human, the political element of these systems must be reclaimed and we must react as a society.
 

Desirable technological future

The talk with Christopher Frauenberger from the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg also addressed this topic. Technology has long had a major influence on society and continues to contribute to its further transformation. Technology has always supported power relations, although it is not good or evil, or at least not neutral. This means that technological innovation is also part of the political arena and must be controlled democratically, but also ecologically, in order to create systems that go beyond purely human needs and to enable a desirable future.

Chamber of Labour expert Astrid Schöggl confirmed the political relevance of technologies and emphasised that the main question is who creates these framework conditions. Digitalisation is leading to phenomena such as the ‘dislocated working class’. Employees are scattered around the world and therefore have few opportunities to organise and network. Algorithms that predict strikes, for example, should also be viewed critically. The question arises as to what a classic strike might look like in a digital environment.
 

Let's talk about…

The question of how society and technology develop and how they influence each other, as well as the question of how individual and collective resistance can function in a digitalised environment, requires a multidisciplinary discussion. The panel of the concluding discussion round was also made up of representatives from science, administration, industry and business:

• Henriette Spyra (Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology)
• Petra Schaper-Rinkel (University of Graz)
• Roland Sommer (Industrie 4.0 Association)
• Hilda Tellioğlu (CTS)

discussed possible scenarios and approaches with the audience, moderated by Anna Franzkowiak (CTS), on how innovation, administration, industry and business can contribute to social development and how technologies should be used for this. The panel came to the common view that suitable processes must be defined and continuously developed that focus on the purpose and not the means. It is essential that the various areas work together and exchange needs and desires in order to create an awareness that dealing with the possible consequences of technological development is always and from the outset part of the process. Each individual must take action, even if structures and systems do not always make this easy. What is essential, therefore, is the creation of a mindset that allows for acute problem solving and long-term development.
 

For the people of the future

Often, progressive technological development is carried out in a technology-oriented or technology-focused way in order to create great leaps in innovation. Such techno-deterministic approaches to solving social problems have been shown to fall short and carry the risk of developing technologies that bypass society. A purely passive understanding of technology as an emergent phenomenon of social change, on the other hand, stands in the way of an active innovation policy and strategy. The core of a pioneering, humanistic approach to the development of intelligent and socially acceptable technologies must therefore be a holistic approach to innovation development by and for socio-technical hybrids.
 

Questions & contact:

DI Dr. Anna Franzkowiak
Organisational Director
Center for Technology and Society
Phone: +43 1 58801 406617
anna.franzkowiak@tuwien.ac.at
https://cts.wien