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> We ask students: ‘What is the most pressing problem that economists should address?’ What should we ask Computer Science students? I can try it on a coupl

> We ask students: ‘What is the most pressing problem that economists should address?’ What should we ask Computer Science students? I can try it on a couple of hundred tomorrow and get back to you. I don't know what they will say.

JoshTriplett 9y ago
> What should we ask Computer Science students? "What is the most important problem (of policy, not of specific technology development) that Computer Scientists should be addressing and currently are not?" (The parenthetical is to forestall nearly-content-free responses like "We should do more with AI!" and similar.)
- PeterisP 9y ago
  That's a very interesting question that presumes that any policy problems at all are among problems that computer scientists should be addressing. IMHO pretty much any solution to a policy problem would by definition not be a computer science problem. Developing a very specific technology might help solve a social problem if it's applied properly and if social scientists believe that this particular technology will actually have the intended social effect and not backfire. Other than that, I'd argue that computer scientists can (and likely should) have an informed opinion on various policy problems and how technology could affect them (or be affected by them), but that it's not their role, skillset or responsibility to address any policy problems; if they're tackling policy problems, then they're doing it "wearing a hat" of a citizen-activist, but not really as a practitioner of computer science - if there's an argument that they should be tackling a particular policy problem, then that's only if everyone should be tackling that policy problem, not particularly for the field of computer science and the related technologies.
- majewsky 9y ago
  > What is the most important problem (of policy, not of specific technology development) that Computer Scientists should be addressing and currently are not? My answer would be: the problem that we always do "introducing a new technology" and "thinking about the consequences of it" in the wrong order.
dlp211 9y ago
Despite how you phrase the question, if I had to hazard a guess about how they'd answer, I'd say AGI.
rdrey 9y ago
I'd like to see the answer for both Economics and Computer Science. Should be interesting.
- baq 9y ago
  i'd say an AI policy advisor (full blown AI governor would be extremely uncomfortable for most, i'd wager).
masterponomo 9y ago
Ask: Which areas of comp-sci study are engineering disciplines and which are sociological/political? For extra credit: which are both? I think you will get a boatload of anecdotal grievance, though that's not saying much nowadays.
- mhluongo 9y ago
  ... and maybe which are science, as well :)
skybrian 9y ago
You could just go with: "what is the most pressing problem that computer scientists should address?" It seems like it might result in some interesting data.
- ddxxdd 9y ago
  The answer would likely be AI risk. Then someone similar to this author will write an introduction to computer science that starts with a science fiction-esque warning of doom and gloom

JoshTriplett 9y ago

> What should we ask Computer Science students? "What is the most important problem (of policy, not of specific technology development) that Computer Scientists should be addressing and currently are not?" (The parenthetical is to forestall nearly-content-free responses like "We should do more with AI!" and similar.)

PeterisP 9y ago
That's a very interesting question that presumes that any policy problems at all are among problems that computer scientists should be addressing. IMHO pretty much any solution to a policy problem would by definition not be a computer science problem. Developing a very specific technology might help solve a social problem if it's applied properly and if social scientists believe that this particular technology will actually have the intended social effect and not backfire. Other than that, I'd argue that computer scientists can (and likely should) have an informed opinion on various policy problems and how technology could affect them (or be affected by them), but that it's not their role, skillset or responsibility to address any policy problems; if they're tackling policy problems, then they're doing it "wearing a hat" of a citizen-activist, but not really as a practitioner of computer science - if there's an argument that they should be tackling a particular policy problem, then that's only if everyone should be tackling that policy problem, not particularly for the field of computer science and the related technologies.
majewsky 9y ago
> What is the most important problem (of policy, not of specific technology development) that Computer Scientists should be addressing and currently are not? My answer would be: the problem that we always do "introducing a new technology" and "thinking about the consequences of it" in the wrong order.

dlp211 9y ago

Despite how you phrase the question, if I had to hazard a guess about how they'd answer, I'd say AGI.

rdrey 9y ago

I'd like to see the answer for both Economics and Computer Science. Should be interesting.

baq 9y ago
i'd say an AI policy advisor (full blown AI governor would be extremely uncomfortable for most, i'd wager).

masterponomo 9y ago

Ask: Which areas of comp-sci study are engineering disciplines and which are sociological/political? For extra credit: which are both? I think you will get a boatload of anecdotal grievance, though that's not saying much nowadays.

mhluongo 9y ago
... and maybe which are science, as well :)

skybrian 9y ago

You could just go with: "what is the most pressing problem that computer scientists should address?" It seems like it might result in some interesting data.

ddxxdd 9y ago
The answer would likely be AI risk. Then someone similar to this author will write an introduction to computer science that starts with a science fiction-esque warning of doom and gloom