DEEPSE Forum Seminars - Rethinking software engineering research and education in the light of digital humanism
Presenter: Prof. Carlo Ghezzi
DEIB - BIO1 Room (Bld. 21)
April 11th, 2025 | 2.30 pm
Contact: Prof. Giovanni Quattrocchi
DEIB - BIO1 Room (Bld. 21)
April 11th, 2025 | 2.30 pm
Contact: Prof. Giovanni Quattrocchi
Sommario
Friday, April 11th, 2025 at 2.30 pm Carlo Ghezzi, Professor Emeritus at Politecnico di Milano, will hold a seminar titled "Rethinking software engineering research and education in the light of digital humanism" at DEIB BIO1 Room (Building 21).
The event is part of the DEEPSE Forum Seminars series.
The world in which we live relies on digital technologies, and in particular on software, which operates and interacts with the physical world and humans. In the digital era, software engineers are the demiurges who are creating a new cyber-physical world, where humans, autonomous agents powered by AI, and physical entities live together in a new kind of society. Already in the late 1990's constitutionalist L. Lessig said that software defines the laws that govern the world and asked for reflection and action, because of the potential disruptive consequences. This is even more urgent today, due to to the phenomenal progress of AI and AI-generated software, which led to an increasing pervasiveness of software-enabled functions, with more and more intimate relation with humans and society. This raises the urgent need for re-thinking the way we do research, the competences and responsibilities of technologists who conceive and develop software, and the skills they should acquire through education. Rethinking should start by asking questions like: Should software engineers care about the human values involved while conceiving/developing new applications? About possible future uses and ethical implications?
Can they do it by themselves? What kind of skills would they need?
The talk mainly aims at setting the stage for opening a much needed and urgent discussion, which should involve software researchers and educators and has to be broad and open, especially to social science and humanities.
Carlo Ghezzi is Professor Emeritus at Politecnico di Milano, where he graduated in Electronic Engineering and developed most of his academic career. He has been Full Professor of Software Engineering and introduced the first course on this subject in Italy. He held important institutional roles at Politecnico di Milano, including degree programme chairman, department head, chairman of the council of heads of departments, member of the Academic Senate, Rector's delegate for research, and, since 2016, chairman of the Ethics Committee. He also taught and conducted research internationally, including at UCLA, UCSB, UNC Chapel Hill, ESLAI, TU Wien, the National Institute of Informatics in Japan, and Peking and Tongji University in China. His scientific contributions in Software Engineering have been recognized with several honors, such as Fellow of ACM and IEEE, member of Academia Europaea and the Accademia delle Scienze - Istituto Lombardo, and recipient of the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award. He has authored more than 200 publications and 9 books and coordinated numerous national and European research projects, including an ERC Advanced Grant.
The event is part of the DEEPSE Forum Seminars series.
The world in which we live relies on digital technologies, and in particular on software, which operates and interacts with the physical world and humans. In the digital era, software engineers are the demiurges who are creating a new cyber-physical world, where humans, autonomous agents powered by AI, and physical entities live together in a new kind of society. Already in the late 1990's constitutionalist L. Lessig said that software defines the laws that govern the world and asked for reflection and action, because of the potential disruptive consequences. This is even more urgent today, due to to the phenomenal progress of AI and AI-generated software, which led to an increasing pervasiveness of software-enabled functions, with more and more intimate relation with humans and society. This raises the urgent need for re-thinking the way we do research, the competences and responsibilities of technologists who conceive and develop software, and the skills they should acquire through education. Rethinking should start by asking questions like: Should software engineers care about the human values involved while conceiving/developing new applications? About possible future uses and ethical implications?
Can they do it by themselves? What kind of skills would they need?
The talk mainly aims at setting the stage for opening a much needed and urgent discussion, which should involve software researchers and educators and has to be broad and open, especially to social science and humanities.
Carlo Ghezzi is Professor Emeritus at Politecnico di Milano, where he graduated in Electronic Engineering and developed most of his academic career. He has been Full Professor of Software Engineering and introduced the first course on this subject in Italy. He held important institutional roles at Politecnico di Milano, including degree programme chairman, department head, chairman of the council of heads of departments, member of the Academic Senate, Rector's delegate for research, and, since 2016, chairman of the Ethics Committee. He also taught and conducted research internationally, including at UCLA, UCSB, UNC Chapel Hill, ESLAI, TU Wien, the National Institute of Informatics in Japan, and Peking and Tongji University in China. His scientific contributions in Software Engineering have been recognized with several honors, such as Fellow of ACM and IEEE, member of Academia Europaea and the Accademia delle Scienze - Istituto Lombardo, and recipient of the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award. He has authored more than 200 publications and 9 books and coordinated numerous national and European research projects, including an ERC Advanced Grant.
