At a time when major social issues are strongly linked to technology, science journalist Diederik Jekel points out the responsibility of FHI members. “If you make, buy or sell something that is used by millions of people, then you have an impact. And that brings responsibility.”
The FHI general meeting traditionally concludes with a lecture by a renowned speaker. This year, science journalist Diederik Jekel. He emphasizes the importance of communication in science and technology, because, as Diederik states: the success of a technological application depends on communication.
Cheese sauce
“Imagine you’re at a birthday party and you’re explaining what your job entails. Do you get that glazed look from your conversation partner?” A laugh of recognition rises from the audience. “With every form of communication, it’s important to think about who you’re talking to and what you want to achieve. Adjust your story accordingly.”
An image of broccoli appears on the screen. “Suppose you sell broccoli. One person wants a fatty cheese sauce on it, another oriental herbs. The trick is to find the right topping.” Diederik applies the same principle to communication. “You have to step into the world of your listener. Good communication starts with an interest in the other person. Remember that you can adjust how you talk, but not how the other person listens. You might have chosen the wrong sauce.”
Cat or dog?
Under the motto “We are nerds among ourselves and we love technology,” Diederik takes the audience back to basics. With a clear explanation, he reduces the operation of computers to simple switches. “With all due respect to programmers, but programming is not that complicated,” he concludes.
“However, programmers do have to come up with solutions for things that are difficult to capture in rules,” Diederik continues. “For context, you need a new statistical distribution.” He explains, using large language models, that it is precisely the context that is problematic. A computer cannot do anything with words; they have to be converted into numbers. Every piece of information is given a value.
Time to get to work. He gets the audience moving with a game. Pictures of dogs and cats appear on the screen. Diederik asks the audience to decide whether we have a dog or a cat in front of us. The images get smaller and smaller, but even at 17×17 pixels the audience unanimously knows the right answer. People can do this through a special combination of light, eyes, neurons and years of training.
How does a computer do this? By weighing each piece of information and assigning it a value. There are always only a limited number of considerations, but the weighting of the considerations ultimately determines what the computer sees. Based on the weighting, the computer comes to a conclusion. “In fact, the computer does nothing more than what your neurons in your brain do.”
Brick
Many major social issues are coming our way with a strong technological component. The adoption of technologies depends on our communication, Diederik concludes. “Every invention is like a brick: you can build a house with it or bash someone’s head in – it depends on how you use it.”
Diederik addresses the audience directly: “You have more impact on society than the baker on the corner. If you make, buy or sell something that is used by millions of people, then you have an impact. And that brings responsibility.” And with this message Diederik ends as he began his story.
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