When Technology Results in Unintended Consequences

Paul Orlando

25 years: Systems specialist

In the final video of this series, Paul mentions some more causes of unintended consequences and also gives examples of some large tech companies, which are great examples of things growing quickly. He finally finishes by talking about the importance of unintended consequences.

Corporate Governance

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When Technology Results in Unintended Consequences

13 mins 51 secs

Key learning objectives:

Understand the causes of unintended consequences
Understand why the topic of unintended consequences is important

Overview:

Because of our more connected world and the ability to scale quickly, there should be greater attention to systems and awareness of potential unintended consequences. This is not an argument to just keep things the way they are. Instead, this is an argument for understanding how the world is different and where we might be exposed to risk.

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Summary

What are some causes of unintended consequences that Paul mentioned?

Scaling
Incentives
Interconnections
Emergence

Why is the topic unintended consequences important?

In recent years, the world has seemed less full of the tragedies of history. Fewer people die from crime, accidents, poor healthcare, or, uh, pandemics in many parts of the world. Some thinkers associate disagreeing with the idea that the world is safer today with a cognitive problem. But some of that approach is based on a lack of appreciation for our systems. The arguments for autonomous vehicles (or AVs) are that they will reduce the number of traffic accidents and deaths because they will be better drivers than humans.

If you wanted many more human drivers to have accidents, how would you do it? Well, it would be pretty difficult. But even if future AVs do radically improve traffic safety, where could that potentially safer system break down? What about software bugs that take out a fleet of cars? Or intentional hacks that do the same?

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Paul Orlando

Paul's writing on "unintended consequences" comes from his work delving into the systems that he works to impact. He is the founder of Startups Unplugged, a consulting firm devoted to helping large organizations execute with the speed of startups. To do this, Paul often builds startup accelerators and incubators, helping organizations generate more revenue and enabling communities to attract new businesses. He is adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, running the institution's Incubator and in the past built other innovation programmes globally including AcceleratorHK in Hong Kong and the Laudato Si startup incubator in Rome. Paul graduated from Cornell University and Columbia Business School.

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