Software Ethics in a Software World: Where are we?
Presented by Boris Baldassari (Eclipse Foundation) at EclipseCon 2022.
Either as consumers or as producers, we are all confronted with software systems, and/or to their ethical consequences. And this is not just about advanced AI- or weapons- systems: it's our everyday life and, for most of us here at least, job and duty. Although there exists a wide range of material and assets available out there on the subject, it's not always easy to know where and how to do things right, at least for us. But one thing is already established: as software eats the world, it's more important than ever to have this critical discussion and thinking both as individuals, and as a community.
In this talk, we want to start (or foster) the discussion about ethics in software, its meaning and consequences, and how we are all involved in this topic -- whatever our role in the ecosystem. We will introduce some concepts, ideas and examples to help us build a sane foundation for our own critical thinking in the context of our software activity, review the existing landscape and how we can get involved in this reflection, to work together for a truly better world.