Research by the Sea: Why Cennydd?

I feel sorry for anyone tasked with writing a talk about ethics in digital technology in early 2025. The smorgasbord of negative examples are enough to make anyone feel nauseous and light-headed. If the menu doesn’t trigger your gag reflexes, then I’m afraid to say, you might have taken the wrong pill.

Let’s rewind a quarter of a decade. ‘Don’t be evil’ they said. So what happened? Clearly Larry and Sergey didn’t make a Ulysses pact. Or perhaps the carrot, or stick, weighed too on their wallets or minds.

Within that time the slow creep of bad actors, subtle but nefarious approaches to privacy, data and persuasion has permeated into most of our daily lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying the entire tech sector and everyone in it has knowingly acted in bad faith. But we’ve undoubtedly seen the warning signs and we clearly haven’t been taking our Red Team pills enough.

In our pursuit to save people from lamenting ‘Don’t make me think!’ – a phrase coined the same year as Larry and Sergey’s no less – have we neglected to consider the consequences of a lack of friction?

I'm delighted that Cennydd is joining us at Research by the Sea with his new talk – Picking up the pieces – to explore this topic. He’ll set the scene for a future of technology that exhibits qualities of compassion and responsibility.

• Grab your ticket for Cennydd’s talk and the other 6 speakers (save 20% on ticket prices with this link!).
• Read more about Cennydd’s talk on the Research by the Sea website.
• Connect with Cennydd on LinkedIn.
• Check out Cennydd’s book Future Ethics.