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Date
October 24 at 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM EDT
Location
Willard Straight Hall Library
You Are What You Scroll: Why Tech Is Not Value-Neutral
Israel Soong, former Director of Cyber Policy at the White House National Security Council
October 24rd, 2024
5:30 pm EST Reception with hearty hors d’oeuvres to follow
Willard Straight Hall 404 or via Zoom
Register here to join via Zoom
How does technology shape us? Should it be considered “value-neutral”, a mere individual preference? Just as some like to read e-books and others enjoy the tangible feel of paper. But, technology is not created in a moral vacuum, its design and possible uses innately reflect the values and goals of its designers. This raises difficult questions about how we may need to bring in both ethics and larger conceptions of a human person and the meaning of life to think about whether emerging technologies lead to justice and happiness or addiction, exploitation, and corruption.As National Security Council Director for Cyber Policy, Izzy Soong has thought about these issues from the point of view of a technologist, a policy analyst, an advisor, as well as a practicing Christian who is involved in the intersection of tech and faith. Join us as we consider how old wisdom meets new challenges.
Co-Sponsored by the Cornell Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making
Israel (Izzy) Soong; Former Director of Cyber Policy at the White House National Security Council
Israel Soong is former Director of Cyber Policy for the White House National Security Council. While at the NSC, Israel coordinated inter-agency efforts to counter nation-state cyber threats to the United States critical infrastructure, and efforts to bolster the cyber security of allied and partner nations in the Indo-Pacific. Before entering government service, Israel was a senior vice president for strategy at a software company in the United States, and regional vice president for an IT security company based in Asia and the Middle East. He has been a part-time seminary student at Westminster Theological Seminary, and has written for The Gospel Coalition and for the Tennent School of Theology. He graduated from Cornell with a BS in policy analysis in 1996 and obtained a JD from Harvard Law School and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 2001. He enjoys kayaking, biking, and hiking Civil War battlefields.
