The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis
The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis
Authors: Jakob Luettgau (Inria), Jay Lofstead (Sandia National Laboratories), Elaine Raybourn (Sandia National Laboratories), Nico Formánek (High Performance Computing Center (HLRS), Stuttgart)
Abstract: The implications of HPC technology for society and the environment prompt us, as a community, to discuss and understand our direct and indirect impacts. This BoF is highly interactive and aims to facilitate discussion within the community about relating ethical behavior and societal norms to the design of HPC solutions and autonomous/intelligent systems, for example, to ensure that these systems do not intentionally perpetuate global inequality. By furthering this dialogue, we can ensure that the HPC community advances its commitment to technology for the benefit of humanity as a whole.
Long Description: Ethical concerns in science date back centuries. However, the acceleration of innovation and the increasing impact of high-performance computing (HPC) on daily life make these discussions more important than ever. The goal of this BoF is to foster a community-wide discussion about ethics in HPC, addressing issues such as our responsibilities as practitioners and the best ways to ensure ethical considerations in HPC application development and implementation. The BoF will provide a series of ethical principles to serve as discussion points.
These point are designed to be broad and somewhat controversial to encourage discussion. For example, one principle is "HPC resources are expensive and must be financially supported by the user community to be accessible." This principle prompts discussion about whether HPC resources should be shared with the general public or only with those who can afford to field their own resources or buy or rent time on someone else's resources. The economic advantage of access has long been proven, prompting a discussion of what the developed world owes developing countries. Uses such as weather forecasting and storm damage prediction are a matter of life and death; however, resource access is critical for accurate predictions.
Although HPC is a widely applied computational tool, it is ethically neutral. However, some applications can fall into gray areas, such as its use in resource exploration, maintaining nuclear arsenals, or mining personal information for targeted advertising or mass surveillance. Additionally, because HPC promotes open-source software, it can be leveraged for unethical purposes, such as engineering an effective disinformation campaign or designing an optimally destructive pathogen. Because it is a technology that can be abused, we must consider what, if anything, the community should do to prevent this. The rise of AI/ML tools further complicates this discussion, prompting conversations about jobs, energy, and lethal autonomous weapons systems.
This BoF aims to address these issues and determine which values we should promote as a community and the most effective ways to do so. By facilitating discourse among HPC practitioners, we aim to better understand the technology's benefits and challenges, as well as foster detailed, nuanced discussions about the ethics of HPC.
Website: https://ethicsinhpc.org