Hello World!

Hello world!

Discernment is the blog of the Seattle University Technology Ethics Initiative. Our faculty’s short, research-driven reactions to the latest technology news are posted in the blog.

First, a word on the name. Discernment means an ability to distinguish, to exercise good judgment. The concept has a special place in Jesuit thought. While I am no expert in the matter, I would like to offer a brief introduction. Discernment is a method, developed by St. Ignatius, the founder of the Society of Jesus, that encourages each person to find God in their lives. Discernment orients the individual to the goodness of God through developing a habit of reflection. While there is undoubtedly an inward-looking element in this method, discernment is exercised in the face of the opportunities, expectations, temptations, distractions, and experiences of the world and is thus very much active and outward-looking.

The students, alumni, faculty and staff who make up the Seattle University community come from diverse intellectual, academic, philosophical and spiritual traditions. They believe in different gods, or no god at all. Nonetheless, the central message of discernment finds resonance across the campus community because all of us wanting to teach and learn for a just and humane world appreciate the importance of active reflection in a fast-paced world.

If discernment is an important habit in general, it is absolutely indispensable in the face of technological change in particular. Flip the pages of a newspaper or browse your favorite social media platform, and you will come across cheerful stories of technology solving our problems and gloomy ones of technology-induced catastrophe. Experts appear to disagree on the defining technology of recent times, artificial intelligence (AI): for some, AI has been revolutionizing life as we know it, and for others, it is little more than a marketing and sales pitch. All in all, public debates on technology combine promise and peril, hype and gloom in exhausting ways that leave ordinary people confused.

It is in moments like these that discernment is indispensable. If we, as developers and users of technology, want technology to serve a just and humane world, then we need to understand not only technical intricacies but also how technology is embedded in today’s political, economic and cultural contexts. An informed citizenry is both the bedrock of a healthy society in which technology serves the public good and the first line of defense against the harms resulting from technology. This is why we need informed commentary on the technological developments shaping our world. 

This is what this blog is about. Discernment is where Seattle University faculty exercise thought leadership on the latest technology news. Stay tuned!