Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series
Zeynep Tufekci
Abstract: "As software eats the world", there are more and more questions that arise from the interaction of computing systems with society. There are many unexpected questions and novel challenges. It's hard to ponder a world in which speculative branch prediction in the microcode in computer architecture interacts, for example, with human rights and keeping dissidents and minorities safe, and where machine learning artifacts and features can affect potentially billions of lives, for better or worse. This has put a lot of stress on both computer science researchers and social scientists as they race to provide understanding and solutions, often while big tech companies and governments have different priorities. This talk is a reflection on this state of affairs as well as a discussion of how we could proceed, especially in the academy.
Bio: Zeynep Tufekci is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, author of Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest from Yale University Press and an opinion writer at the New York Times and a columnist with Scientific American and Wired. Her research revolves around the interaction between society and technology with special focus on how big data, algorithms and artificial intelligence are affecting social and political structures in society and the workings of power, politics and resistance.
Host: Steve Bellovin
