Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs book cover. Photo: Messenger Publications
What would we do without our technology? Researchers have used Artificial Intelligence (AI)to find vaccines for the coronavirus in a record-breaking nine months. Platforms such as WhatsApp and Zoom have enabled millions of families to communicate with each other during the pandemic and Alexa (A virtual assistant AI technology developed by Amazon) is now a common presence and aid in many homes today. But have we considered the deeper implications of this technology?
Fr Sean McDonagh has!
In his new book Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs,
well-known Columban environmentalist and author, Fr Sean McDonagh, demonstrates that the same tools that we use to connect, protect and support us can also be put to use in ways that have a huge negative impact on our privacy, our freedom and our life choices. Thus, the software that guided the track-and-trace efforts in combating the coronavirus could be used to trace migrants or refugees.
Drones and robots used in the retail, education, hospitality, manufacturing and building industries certainly create efficiencies but will have a huge negative impact on jobs in the future, potentially increasing to 40%-50% of people out of permanent jobs in these sectors.
Fr McDonagh argues that we need to understand and address the potential repercussions of developing technology in an ethical vacuum. Our digital future is fast approaching with little regulation and few institutional policies and protections. Respect for human rights must be at the heart of these new technologies.
Karlin Lillington, writer and columnist for the Irish Times who has written the foreword to the book calls it “an accessible and thoughtful look at these fascinating, yet disturbing technologies, poised to bring societal change of the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution.”
Professor John Sweeny, former president of The National Trust Fund for Ireland, says, "As we enter the brave new world where control and automation potentially remove our hard fought freedoms as well as our jobs, this book asks searching questions of how society should respond ethically to the threats posed."
Former president of Ireland, Professor Mary McAleese, also draws attention to the potential polarisation of society: "This hugely informative book shakes us out of our massage armchairs and demands that we engage immediately with these galloping advances so we can shape them to the benefit of the many and not leave them to the enrichment of the few at the awful cost of the impoverishment of swathes of humanity."
Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament (2004-2007) summarised the book as "a wakeup call for political, civic, media and church leaders, urging a response to the deepening and accelerating pace of technological change and its potential consequences."
Columban Fr Sean McDonagh was a missionary in the Philippines for many years. He has worked tirelessly in the area to improve the care of the earth and has published numerous books. He was an advisor to Pope Francis on preparing his encyclical, Laudato Si’.
Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs by Sean McDonagh, is an accessible and thought-provoking look at the potential of new technology to bring about seismic societal change and a call for discourse and decisions to ensure the best outcomes for humanity.
Publication date was set at 4 February 2021.
Available for purchase from Messenger Publications: www.messenger.ie/product/robots-ethics-and-the-future-of-jobs
Not yet available for purchase in Australia.
Listen to "Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs"
Related links
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