Category: Social Implications of Technology

Enhancing Sustainability in Resource-Limited Environments: Government, Culture, and AI

By on July 10th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Spain’s Comunitat Valenciana (Valencian Community) (Figure 1) has a rich agricultural history, with long traditions of resilience and innovation. This tradition,…  Read More

Technological Solutions to Online Toxicity: Potential and Pitfalls

By on July 3rd, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Case Studies, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Social media platforms present a perplexing duality, acting at once as sites to build community and a sense of belonging, while also giving rise to misinformation, facilitating and intensifying disinformation campaigns and perpetuating existing patterns of discrimination from the physical world.

AI and Data Technologies in Advancing Sustainable Development Goals

By on June 15th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The articles in this special issue focus on the connected nature of the SDGs and the need to address them using community-based approaches and span essential steps for widespread SDG attainment, including planning, implementation, and monitoring.

Sustainability in the Built Environment: The Galapagos Experience

By on May 16th, 2024 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Environment, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The LLES Project promotes the transformation of the conventional construction paradigm, incorporating bioclimatic architecture strategies like passive measures to minimize heat gain and maximize cooling.

Climate Change News – AI and Climate Change

By on May 6th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Environment, Magazine Articles, News and Notes, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

At the Recent international negotiations on climate change in Dubai in 2023, the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to play a critical role in addressing climate challenges was recognized through the initiative “AI for Climate Action (#AI4ClimateAction).”

Introducing the Editorial Board—Part I

By on April 29th, 2024 in Articles, Magazine Articles, News and Notes, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Publications are only as strong as the people who make them work. As part of this new chapter in IEEE Technology and Society Magazine (TSM), this is the first in a series of pieces to introduce the new associate editors who represent a powerhouse of knowledge on the social implications of technology.

A Social Technical Journey to SSIT

By on April 19th, 2024 in Articles, Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine is a rare place where social and technological concerns come together in a way that respects both the technological details as well as the critical, social areas that influence technological invention and adoption.

Human Centricity in the Relationship Between Explainability and Trust in AI

By on March 20th, 2024 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The term “explainability” is a multifaceted concept within the realm of computer science. In essence, it encompasses various aspects and capacities of a system to effectively convey its internal processes, decision-making, capabilities, and constraints to its users. Providing explanations can notably enhance initial trust, especially when trust is measured as a multidimensional concept that includes aspects such as competence, benevolence, integrity, intention to return, and perceived transparency.

Gender Equality in Engineering: An Institutional Reflection

By on February 28th, 2024 in Articles, Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

We identified five key issues to prioritize when addressing gender equality: Reaching critical mass; Improving lived and living experience (maintaining critical mass); Selection and resource-allocation criteria; The misconception of merit in academia; Beyond gender equality.

On Aerial Perspective, Socio-Technical Systems, and Interdisciplinarity:

By on February 16th, 2024 in Articles, Commentary, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

These modernists aim to cultivate in readers the capacity to “think cybernetically”—that is, to develop strategies for responding in creative and generative ways to the 20th century’s complex sociocultural (and socio-technical) environment.

The End of Exploring

By on January 25th, 2024 in Social Implications of Technology

If I knew what made for a successful academic career, I would have bottled and sold it a long time ago. There probably is no silver bullet, and with the organizational/individual duality, it is probably impossible to solve all of the problems or optimize all of the criteria, at all of the different levels, for all of the different people, all at the same time. Focus on those arenas that you can affect and inspire.

Words, Acronyms, Languages, and Perceptions: The Human Mind, Life, and Semantics Interoperability

By on January 20th, 2024 in Articles, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, President's Message, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

In June 2013 Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama signed a historic agreement to begin cooperation on cybersecurity. The mutual understanding developed through previous work in 2011 was to define critical terminology for a cyber conflict. I was part of the U.S. team that held the Russia-U.S. Bilateral discussions on cybersecurity. The aim was to build collaborative relationships between many nations in defining a common vocabulary so that mistakes would not be made because of misinterpretations of a certain word. It took us months just to agree on 20 terms

Book Review: Age of Auto Electric: Environment, Energy, and the Quest for the Sustainable Car

By on January 10th, 2024 in Articles, Book Reviews, Environment, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

When an early-adopter buddy of mine stopped by recently in his brand-new electric Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, I was stunned at how impressed I was. For one thing, unlike other electric vehicles (EVs) I have seen up close (mostly Teslas), this one looked and felt like a real car: it had a real dashboard with real switches and knobs, a real brake pedal, and an overall design that did not look like something an eight-year-old doodled after seeing Blade Runner 2049. More importantly, it was by far the fastest vehicle I have ever driven, so much so that by the end of a quick spin I had an idiotic grin on my face I could not quite shake. It was, as Matthew Eisler reports in Age of Auto Electric, the “EV smile.”