Presentation: "What are we programming for?"
Time: Thursday 10:30 - 11:30
Location: Wordsworth Room
A large part of the thinking of the software profession is that we are hired guns - we do whatever our customers want, and don't reflect too much on the consequences of that. This ignores the fact that software has had a profound impact on human society in the last few decades and us in the software profession do have an ability to influence the direction of that impact. To do this we need to engage with the consequences of our work, both for the enterprises that hire us and the broader human society. We also need to reflect upon the nature of our profession for its structure and composition affects this engagement. This is not an easy topic to talk about, which is partly why I think we avoid it. But we should not let its difficulty stop us from the reflection and conversation that can lead to effective action.