We Just Build Hammers: Stories from the Past, Present, and Future of Responsible Tech - Paperback

by Coraline Ada Ehmke (Author)

Philosopher Noam Chomsky is famously quoted as saying that technology is neither good nor bad, but simply a neutral tool. He likens it to a hammer, which can be used by carpenters and torturers alike. While the neutrality of tech is an idea that appeals to many technologists, this perspective is out of alignment with today's realities of pervasive ad-tech, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic manipulation, and rising techno-fascism.

We Just Build Hammers applies a lens of speculative and science fiction to connect you with a historical lineage of thinkers and activists in the responsible tech movement. Its narrative spans a century of major technological upheavals: from the advent of the atomic age to the formative years of computing; from the hacker visionaries of the turn of the century to the tech justice revolutionaries of today. This book challenges technologists to consider for themselves whether they're really just "building hammers"- technologies whose potential for good balances their potential for harm- or if they are unwittingly contributing to systems that exacerbate inequality, inequity, and injustice.

What You Will Learn

A historic grounding and a science fiction perspective to help untangle the difficult and fraught topic of tech ethics Ways to bring ethical considerations into the development of new technologies How to navigate the increasing complexity of the techno-social world we live and work in

Who This Book is For

Designed to appeal broadly, not just to engineers and technologists, but to anyone interested in the history and future of ethics and technology.

Back Jacket

Philosopher Noam Chomsky is famously quoted as saying that technology is neither good nor bad, but a neutral tool. He likens it to a hammer, which can be used by carpenters and torturers alike. While the neutrality of tech is an idea that appeals to many technologists, this perspective is out of alignment with today's realities of ad-tech, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic manipulation, and rising techno-fascism. This book challenges technologists to consider for themselves whether they're really just "building hammers"- technologies whose potential for good balances their potential for harm- or if they are unwittingly contributing to systems that exacerbate inequality, inequity, and injustice

In light of imminent threats like these, many technologists are starting to question how what they build is being leveraged or abused to accelerate a global societal decline. Every era of massive technological change finds technologists facing difficult questions about the broader implications of their work. Every generation of technologists wrestles with crises of conscience about their real-world impact and must consider how to prevent their work from being used to cause harm. Through the power of storytelling, you'll come to recognize the danger of the comforting myth that technology is neutral; understand the outsized responsibility that comes with technology's outsized impact on the world; learn to navigate the ethical complexities of their own work; and be inspired to imagine (and work for) more equitable, alternative techno-social futures.

We Just Build Hammers applies a lens of speculative and science fiction to connect you with a historical lineage of thinkers and activists in the responsible tech movement. Its narrative spans a century of major technological upheavals: from the advent of the atomic age to the formative years of computing; from the hacker visionaries of the turn of the century to the tech justice revolutionaries of today.

Author Biography

Coraline Ada Ehmke is an internationally recognized tech ethicist, activist, and software engineer. For more than a decade, she has worked on practical approaches to promoting the values of diversity, equity, and justice in the technology industry. As a highly sought-after speaker, she has delivered keynotes at technology conferences on five continents.

She is best known as the creator of Contributor Covenant, the first and most widely-adopted code of conduct for open source communities. She was recognized for her contributions to open source with a Ruby Hero Award in 2016. In 2018 she addressed the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights on the topic of human rights abuses by tech companies. In 2019, she authored the Hippocratic License, an innovative ethical source license tied to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Coraline is profiled on Wikipedia, where she is recognized as a pioneer among women in computing history. Her work has been featured by media outlets including CNN, the BBC, WIRED, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Register, The Mary Sue, Buzzfeed, Vice, The Verge, ZDNet, The Daily Beast, and Business Insider.