Technology and Public Purpose

To help us think seriously about data ethics, we need case studies that we can discuss, argue about, and come to terms with as we engage with the real world. Good case studies give us the opportunity to think through problems before facing them in real life. And case studies show us that ethical problems aren't simple. They are multi-faceted, and frequently there's no single right answer. And they help us to recognize there are few situations that don't raise ethical questions.

In this co-authored piece with Leo Carter, Belfer Center senior fellow Anja Manuel weighs in on the possible benefits of blockchains for U.S. national security.

Belfer Center senior fellow Anja Manuel argues that the U.S. is hurting itself in the long run with its stance towards Chinese businesses and technology.

What does it take to build a good data product or service? Not just a product or service that’s useful, or one that’s commercially viable, but one that uses data ethically and responsibly.

Over the past year, there has been a great discussion of data ethics, motivated in part by discomfort over “fake news,” targeted advertising, algorithmic bias, and the effect that data products have on individuals and on society. Concern about data ethics is hardly new; the ACM, IEEE, and the American Statistical Association all have ethical codes that address data. But the intensity with which we’ve discussed ethics shows that something significant is happening: data science is coming of age and realizing its responsibilities. A better world won’t come about simply because we use data; data has its dark underside.

The hard thing about being an ethical data scientist isn’t understanding ethics. It’s the junction between ethical ideas and practice. It’s doing good data science.

Disruptive technological change cannot be stopped, but it can—and must—be shaped for overall human good. This semester, Belfer Center Director Ash Carter joined forces with Frank Doyle, Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, to launch a Faculty Working Group on Technology for Governance and Governance for Technology tackling this issue.

Ash Carter Guest Hosts MSNBC’s Squawk Box

When I began my career in elementary particle physics, the great figures who taught and inspired me had been part of the Manhattan Project generation that developed the atomic bomb. They were proud to have created a “disruptive” technology that ended World War II and deterred a third world war through more than 50 years of tense East-West standoff. They were also proud to have made nuclear power possible. But their understanding of the underlying technology also gave them a deep regard for the awesome, unavoidable risks that came with those technologies.

Cambridge, MA – Former Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter will join the Harvard Kennedy School as the Belfer Professor of Technology and Global Affairs and Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. As Secretary of Defense, Carter, a physicist, became known for pushing the Pentagon to “think outside its five-sided box” in order to transform the way the military fought adversaries and strengthened alliances, managed its budget and talent, developed its technology, and more. He will now lead the Belfer Center’s programs and will focus his scholarship on the role of innovation and technology in addressing challenges at home and around the world.