Courtney Bowman
Ep. 43 –– A physics major pursues a grounding in philosophy and finds his niche in Silicon Valley / Courtney Bowman, Director, Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering Team, Palantir. Courtney Bowman thought he was destined for a career in physics until he took a philosophy class. It triggered a deep skepticism of the ability of hard sciences to solve mankind's biggest problems. When Bowman told his academic mentor and family about the desire to pursue philosophy, they were alarmed and tried to dissuade him, fearing a dead end to his career. But Bowman went with his gut and ignored conventional wisdom and it paid off strangely enough in Silicon Valley where Bowman found his niche in a one-of-a-kind Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering team that he leads at Palantir, the big-data analytics platform deployed by the U.S. government and other governments around the world to contain the spread of #coronavirus. #COVID-19 raises unprecedented legal, ethical, moral, even existential questions around the use of mobility tracking, contact tracing, immunity passports, and other powerful big data tools. "We're talking about contact tracing applications that rely on mobile phones and specific applications on mobile phones. But not everyone carries a mobile phone. Not everyone has a mobile phone, or is technologically savvy and use of their mobile phones. So then you raise all sorts of issues about the 'digital divide.' Does this mean that the people who maybe are most advantaged and most privileged because they have access to technology, are going to get a disproportionate advantage in the use of that technology?” asks Bowman. "Meaning that some of the most vulnerable communities that are less technology savvy are not receiving the public health benefits of something like contact tracing. And those are real concerns, particularly when you have kind of disproportionate spread of a disease and disproportionate accessibility and availability of public health resources. So there's real, kind of, broader cultural and sociological, and environmental concerns that come into play when you're talking about applying this type of technology to the real world." That's where Bowman's unique philosophical grounding and non-traditional perspectives come in handy as nations around the world ponder these weighty questions over how to put the lid on the pandemic. Note: I was a senior advisor at Palantir Technologies from 2007-2015 and own equity in the startup. Read the Transcript Download the PDF Chitra Ragavan: Courtney Bowman thought he was destined for a career in physics until he took a philosophy class that triggered a deep skepticism of the hard sciences and the ability of science alone to address the issues raised by technological advances. Chitra Ragavan: Bowman decided to pursue his quest for a philosophical underpinning for his life and work, which unexpectedly gave him the tools to address some of the most challenging and salient technology questions of the day. Chitra Ragavan: Hello everyone. I'm Chitra Ragavan, and this is When It Mattered. This episode is brought to you by Goodstory, an advisory firm helping technology startups find their narrative. I'm joined now by Courtney Bowman, a former colleague and Director of Privacy and Civil Liberties engineering at Palantir Technologies. Bowman's work addresses complex issues at the intersection of policy, law, technology, ethics, and social norms. Bowman is working closely with the U.S. government and governments around the world to address the issues around the collection and analysis of massive amounts of data from the COVID-19 pandemic. Courtney, welcome to the podcast. Courtney Bowman: Chitra, thank you so much. It's an honor to be invited to your podcast and I really appreciate it. Chitra Ragavan: So what were you doing in life when you first began to understand the need for philosophy as an underpinning for your life and work?