We usually think of technology as a tool, something as indifferent as a hammer or a ruler. But technology has become an intermediary in nearly every part of our lives, from electronic medical records to apps that remember which craft beers you’ve tasted. And in a world where algorithms decide when you should turn left or which version of the news you read, pretending our software is detached is naive—or even dangerous.

So, when so few technologists (that’s us) are creating software for use by so many (that’s nearly everyone else in the world), how can we do right by them? What responsibility do we have to use our skills for good? And how can we get this right when humans beings insist on being so varied and complicated and, well… human?

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Eric Poe at 13:56 on 21 Apr 2018

Excellent points, great slides (light background, dark text FTW!). Now to go do that voodoo that we do so well.

Paul Dejean at 14:00 on 21 Apr 2018

Very boring talk. Anyone that reads a newspaper has heard it all a million times before.

Saying companies "should" build diverse teams is pretty boring. It's sort of like giving a talk on how developers "should" use CI, unit testing and version control.

It would be much more interesting to focus more on how to do xyz rather than talking at length about how xyz is the right thing to do.

Fantastic, engaging talk. So well laid out with up front context about potential blindspots software engineers may have, compelling stories to drive the point home, and advice for how to do this better. The content was spot on and the delivery was phenomenal: well-paced, funny, and relatable. One of the best keynotes I've seen.

Darren Wright at 14:27 on 21 Apr 2018

Wonderful and engaging talk.

Anonymous at 16:04 on 21 Apr 2018

In your second example, could it also be his way of saying hello, why assume the negative. Why assume he is totally gone. You assume to know exactly how life works.
Good points.

John Vernier at 16:13 on 21 Apr 2018

I thought Eryn gave a pretty compelling talk, especially when considering diversity - not just the usual areas of diversity that one may consider such as age, sex, race, etc, but diversity of life experience.

It was a nice break from the "deep-dive how-to" style sessions and really made me re-think how I plan out and implement new features that try to increase user engagement. Immediately got me on her side with her first point :P Great talk.

Stefka Newman at 20:09 on 22 Apr 2018

Eryn is a talented speaker I enjoyed her talk.