Algorithms, Digital Technologies & Warfare

Algorithms, the dictionary tells us, are a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by computer. Sounds innocuous enough. But hang on. It has a dark side. Algorithms can make mistakes due to biases, poor design, coding errors, or flawed assumptions. They can collect and process large amounts of personal data which can put people’s privacy rights at risk. There are lethal dangers. Koohan Paik-Mander warns the algorithms that missiles have spawned “have been a scourge on Mother Earth and our own humanity with our smartphones, satellites, robotics, AI, nuclear power and all the rest through which civil society has unwittingly become militarized through and through.”

Speaker: Koohan Paik-Mander

Koohan Paik-Mander is a journalist, author and peace and environmental activist. She is a co-founder of the Tech Critics Network and serves on the board of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. Her articles appear in The Nation, The Progressive, Foreign Policy in Focus, and other publications. Her article “Whales Will Save the World’s Climate — Unless the Military Destroys Them First” was named by Project Censored as one of the top 25 censored stories of 2021-2022. She is co-author of The Superferry Chronicles: Hawaii’s Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism and the Desecration of the Earth.

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