Presented By: Tau Beta Pi
Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon II: How Technologists Can Change the World, Meaningfully
TBP - The Engineering Honor Society
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon series is an annual series sponsored by the College of Engineering and Tau Beta Pi. The series seeks to promote a culture of inclusion, while helping encourage attendees to continue their development as a "whole person" rather than simply as an "engineer". For our second event of the semester, which will be held virtually via Zoom, we have invited Prof. Kentaro Toyama.
Abstract: The rate of technological innovation is only accelerating. Cars drive themselves. Genes can be edited. Robots are going mainstream. Engineers believe that new technologies can improve lives. Yet, increasingly, the broader public is concerned about a technological dystopia. In this talk, I will introduce technology's Law of Amplification which offers a theory of how technology impacts society, reconciling optimistic and pessimistic views. Amplification provides hints about how engineers can not just "change the world," but change the world for the better.
Bio: Kentaro Toyama is the W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan School of Information, a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. In previous lives, Kentaro taught at Ashesi University in Ghana and co-founded Microsoft Research India, where he did research on the application of digital technology to international development.
To register for the event, please fill out the form linked here (https://forms.gle/yXnBMB3REBvFhPG86) by midnight on Sunday, April 4. All attendees will receive a DoorDash coupon with attendance at the event. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at tbp.campusoutreach@umich.edu. We hope to see you there!
Abstract: The rate of technological innovation is only accelerating. Cars drive themselves. Genes can be edited. Robots are going mainstream. Engineers believe that new technologies can improve lives. Yet, increasingly, the broader public is concerned about a technological dystopia. In this talk, I will introduce technology's Law of Amplification which offers a theory of how technology impacts society, reconciling optimistic and pessimistic views. Amplification provides hints about how engineers can not just "change the world," but change the world for the better.
Bio: Kentaro Toyama is the W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information at the University of Michigan School of Information, a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT, and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. In previous lives, Kentaro taught at Ashesi University in Ghana and co-founded Microsoft Research India, where he did research on the application of digital technology to international development.
To register for the event, please fill out the form linked here (https://forms.gle/yXnBMB3REBvFhPG86) by midnight on Sunday, April 4. All attendees will receive a DoorDash coupon with attendance at the event. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at tbp.campusoutreach@umich.edu. We hope to see you there!
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