Future Software for Life in Trusted Futures

Abstract

How will people, other species, software and hardware live together in as yet unknown futures? How can we work towards trusted and safe futures where human values and the environment are supported by emerging technologies? Research demonstrates that human values and everyday life priorities, ethics, routines and activities will shape our possible futures. I will draw on ethnographic research to outline how people anticipate and imagine everyday life futures with emerging technologies in their homes and neighbourhoods, and how technology workers envisage futures in their professional lives. If, as social science research shows, technologies cannot solve human and societal problems, what roles should they play in future life? What are the implications for future software? What values should underpin its design? Where should it be developed? By and in collaboration with whom? What role can software play in generating the circumstances for trusted futures?