I was interviewed yesterday by Deb Donig, PhD

Cal Poly, www.calpoly.edu

On my views on how technology should embed ethics as a way to ensure humans are protected and in control as part of the TransHumancode movement . Here are the questions and podcast will be published soon

Carlos Moreira “Technically Human” Podcast Interview

August 13, 2021

1. So, Carlos, you spent 17 years with the United Nations before founding WISekey, your current company. What were you doing with the United Nations? And what led you from the UN to WISekey?
2. 2. And what is WISekey? What problem did you see, that you were trying to solve?
3. 3. What were the major cybersecurity issues twenty years ago when you started WISekey? And how have they changed? What are the major cybersecurity issues that we are facing right now?
4. 4. Coming out of the United Nations, which has as its core the issue of human rights, how do you see the link between human rights and cybersecurity?
5. 5. WISekey has, on its website, a “Code of Ethics.” What led you to want to write a “code of ethics” for the company?
6. 6. Do you think that having a clear “code of ethics” and a clearly articulated set of “principles” which you also post on your website changes what technologies you create?
7. 7. When I was researching WISEkey in preparation for this conversation, I came across an article about the company that described how “We are now on the threshold of a fourth phase in the evolution of the Internet, what is called the Embedded Internet, a network space where billions of intelligent embedded devices will be connect.” The article argued that “Many countries are already working on what we call Industry 4 which is the next stage of industrial manufacturing and a paradigm shift toward smart factories which could be the advent of a fourth industrial revolution.” Do you see this happening? If so, what are the urgent ethical issues that come up with this 4th industrial revolution?”
8. 8. You just wrote a book titled “The transHuman Code.” What is the “transHuman” code?
9. 9. I heard you speaking on the book, and you say that we need to start thinking about the urgency of putting human values back into tech the same way that we think about the urgency of climate change: that actually, we have less time to figure out the ethics and human context for technological production than we have to figure out climate change. What did you mean by that? What are the urgent questions we need to answer?
10. 10. A description of the book says that “we need to ensure that we are building a better future for humanity with the help of magnificent technology and not instead building a better future of better technology at the expense of humanity. How did we get to a place where we are building a better future of better technology at the expense of humanity?
11. 11. Are there specific technologies that you think we are building at the expense of humanity? Are there technologies, or technological consequences, that keep you up at night?
12. 12. Are there technologies that you think are truly human centered? If so, which ones? What does a human centered technology need to have to make it so?
13. 13. If I understand currently, the TransHumanCode is more than a book – it’s an interactive “knowledge platform.” How does that work?
14. 14. How does the interactive knowledge platform designed for TransHumanCode enhance the ideas in the book, which deals with questions of what makes us human and what values we need to present and strengthen in the ideation and creation of our technologies?
15. 15. What did you discover about what it means to be human in writing the TransHumanCode?
16. 16. I saw that this book was a collaborative process, with experts ranging in their backgrounds, approaches, and contexts. I’m interested in thinking about the importance of diversity – cultural, geographical, experiential, and intellectual. What’s your take?
17. 17. Circling back to an earlier point in this conversation, where I quoted you as saying that returning technological production and ideation back to a point where it serves human values is as urgent, if not more so, than addressing climate change, I want to ask: many climate scientists are not optimistic about averting some of the worst consequences of climate change in time to stop some of the incoming catastrophes headed our way. Are you optimistic that we’ll be able to avert the consequences of technological design and production that have not attended to or centered human values?
18. 18. What advice would you give to a company CEO seeking to build a human-centered technological product or company? What do they need to do, know, understand, or be aware of if they are going to ensure that their company will build an ethical and human centered product?
19. 19. What advice, wisdom, or insights would you want to share with the next generation of humanists and technologists as they go forward in their careers to use and build the future of technology?