System Error

Big tech's relentless focus on optimization is driving a future that reinforces discrimination, erodes privacy, displaces workers, and pollutes the information we get.

It doesn't need to be this way.

Armed with an understanding of how technologists think and exercise their power, three Stanford professors--a philosopher, a political scientist, and a computer scientist--reveal how we can hold that power to account.

Troubled by the values that permeate the university's student body and its culture, they worked together to chart a new path forward, creating a popular course to transform how tomorrow's technologists approach their profession. Now, as the dominance of big tech becomes an explosive societal conundrum, they share their provocative insights and concrete solutions to help everyone understand what is happening, what is at stake, and what we can do to control technology instead of letting it control us.

Join us as Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami, and Jeremy Weinstein discuss how big tech's obsession with optimization and efficiency has sacrificed fundamental human values. Sharing ideas from their new book, System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot, they’ll also outline steps we can take to change course, renew our democracy, and chart a better future.

MISS THE EVENT?

You can catch the full program here and enjoy reading the blog recap here.