As a non-Indigenous man researching at the cultural interface, my understanding is that a First Australian Ways of Knowing, Doing and Being can inform the design and development of new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), robotics, blockchain, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), in radical ways (though I would never claim to speak for Indigenous peoples).
Fundamentally, there is a need to understand the technology and the impact it will have in a profoundly more holistic way than is typically undertaken in Western digital technology initiatives. For example, instead of performing traditional stakeholder and/or impact analysis, a strategic, trans-disciplinary steering committee may be required that includes representatives from a range of scientific disciplines, such as social and environmental scientists, as well as with consumer and minority advocacy groups. The governance model for this committee will need to reflect the approaches to reaching consensus in Indigenous communities, where all voices are equal and need to be respectfully considered. This committee will be responsible for asking questions such as:
- How can this technology be used to benefit all members of society, and not just a select few?
- How can those that are disrupted by the technology be re-skilled to find other livelihoods (as the lives of the disrupted should be respected as much as the lives of those doing the disrupting)?
- What are the risks that the design and development of the technology will include and possibly amplify existing biases and prejudices?
- How will the data that is being collected, processed and transmitted be properly managed and respected?
- Who is responsible for the decisions and actions made by the technology?
- How are the raw materials that support this emerging technology sourced, and what happens when it reaches end-of-life?
- How will this technology impact our connections with each other and our natural environment?
Although these considerations are likely to slow down the speed of innovation and may impose additional costs, this kind of approach is required to ensure all impacts are properly understood and addressed in the most equitable and harmonious way. The consequence of continuing with the existing paradigm is that we are likely to see more incidents like those we have recently witnessed with AI/ML innovations, such as racist chat-bots and image classifiers. These unforeseen consequences were caused by the biases that are inherent with design and development teams that are lacking gender and ethnic diversity. In response, a number of ethical frameworks and guidelines have been, or will soon be, published to help navigate these risks, but they won’t go far enough if the teams working on these technologies don’t include people who understand these issues more deeply and are empowered to champion their cause.
A significant barrier to adopting such an approach is our existing economic/incentive systems, which value monetary profit above all else, as they will not support the additional time and cost required by such holistic approaches. There may also be challenges to existing intellectual property (IP) laws and regulations, which also prioritises individual ownership of innovations for profit, over communal ownership and responsibility to ensure the innovations are not socially or environmentally detrimental.
Many aspects of First Australian Ways of Knowing, Doing and Being are compatible with systems and complexity theory. The highly networked nature of some emerging technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), lend themselves to such approaches. However, as the miniaturisation of connected IoT devices continues, and combines with robotics, AI, and AR/VR technologies, the interface between the digital and biological will become progressively blurred. We will encounter a growing number of cyber-physical systems that will increasingly challenge the relationship between the digital and biological - and what it means to be human. How can we ensure our interconnected cyber-physical systems don’t distort our values and perceptions to the degree that we are no longer able to recognise what is best for all life forms? First Australian Ways of Knowing, Doing and Being are a good place to start exploring these questions, as it provides an ethical framework that recognises the interconnected nature of all things and treats all things with respect.