This is everything wrong with tech in 2023 (in no particular order)

As a long-time tech ethics advocate, I have grown increasingly concerned about the ways in which the tech industry prioritizes innovation and progress above ethical considerations.

I want to unpack 50 of the most alarming and problematic practices that seem to have become normalized in Silicon Valley today.

• The obsession with short-term profits severely undermines long-term positive impact.
• The lack of diversity among founders and investors propagates harmful exclusion.
• The prevalence of poor work-life balance and burnout culture is inhumane and unsustainable.
• Too many products optimized for addiction show callous disregard for user well-being.
• The constant overvaluation and overfunding of unproven startups is fiscally irresponsible.
• The flood of copycat companies and products stifles meaningful innovation.
• The frequent overlooking of ethical implications displays a dangerous lack of foresight.
• The lackadaisical approach to user privacy and security is unconscionable and dangerous.
• The concentration of disproportionate wealth and influence among a small group fosters plutocracy.
• Algorithms that amplify bias, misinformation, and polarization recklessly undermine democracy.
• The lack of prioritization of sustainability ignores our profound environmental responsibility.
• Products designed without sufficient user testing evince sheer corporate indifference toward consumers.
• Thoughtless over-automation leading to job loss shows no concern for displaced workers.
• The dearth of regulation around new technologies manifests irresponsible laissez-faire.
• Excessive lobbying influence on lawmakers makes an utter mockery of democracy.
• Intellectual property litigation frequently smothers innovation like a pillow over the face.
• The favoring of technical solutions over social and political reform is dangerously reductive.
• Taking insufficient safety precautions with risky technologies signifies depraved recklessness.
• The concentration of venture capital in small coastal cities entrenches inequality and groupthink.
• Prioritizing young founders without life experience romanticizes foolish inexperience over wisdom.
• The obsession with speed and disruption overlooks responsible, conscientious development.
• The dominance of hype and buzzwords compensates for lack of substantive discussion.
• Gender discrimination and sexual harassment inflict unconscionable trauma and limit potential.
• The use of aggressive, unethical tactics to undermine competitors breeds corruption.
• Monopolistic business practices concentrate profit at the expense of consumer choice.
• Planned obsolescence and non-recyclable e-waste demonstrates shocking environmental apathy.
• Exploiting addictive interface patterns for engagement exhibits crass manipulation of human weakness.
• The lack of worker representation in tech companies disempowers labor.
• Engineers siloed from real-world impacts of their work are detached from ethical responsibility.
• Utopian tech promises lead to disappointment when vision ignores complex human reality.
• Insufficient attention to accessibility evinces ableist indifference toward people with disabilities.
• Overconfidence in technology’s ability to solve social issues shows reckless optimism bordering on delusion.
• The lack of accountability when technologies cause harm emboldens a sense of impunity.
• Short-term contracting over stable employment precariously impedes workers from planning their lives.
• Inadequate mental health support shows no compassion for psychological well-being.
• The unchecked harassment and discrimination faced by marginalized groups in tech entrenches injustice.
• Accelerating economic inequality through winner-take-all dynamics entrenches division and instability.
• Encouraging engineers to move fast and break things rashly disregards public welfare.
• Treating privacy and security as an afterthought rather than a prerequisite is unconscionable.
• Inadequately considering legal and ethical gray areas invites disaster.
• The lack of public policy experts in tech blindly overlooks social impacts.
• An overwhelming focus on the developed world ignores the global community.
• Conflicts of interest from ad-driven business models erode objectivity.
• Algorithms exacerbating political polarization are tearing us apart.
• Neglecting to consider future generations is mortgaging their future.
• Insufficiently anticipating unintended consequences smacks of reckless myopia.
• Unethical or dangerous use of artificial intelligence could unleash existential catastrophe.
• Biased data baked into AI systems thoughtlessly entrenches injustice.
• Insufficiently addressing online abuse and cyberbullying enables harm.
• Disrupting journalism’s advertising revenue threatens democracy by eroding public information.

The reckless pursuit of growth and profits has led to a pervasive culture of hubris and impunity that disregards potential harms to users, workers, society, and the environment.

From the obsession with speed and scale over responsible development to discrimination and lack of diversity, we need to expose the callousness, indifference, and irresponsibility underlying much of the tech sector’s drive for disruption.

I contend that addressing these deep flaws and ethical blind spots is the only way for technology to fulfill its immense potential as a force for human betterment rather than a catalyst for utter fucking dystopia.

🍕 www.joanwestenberg.com