DIGITALIZATION SOCIETY - and - Forschung Frankfurt
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
DIGITALIZATION
and
SOCIETY
Digitalization and Society
»Digital technologies
are naturally
no panacea«
Interview with Friedericke Hardering, labour market sociologist
By Anke Sauter
The coronavirus crisis has changed – analogously to Silicon Valley – Silicon yet missed the boat. Germany is still
a lot of things – in the working Germany. People recognize that the topic very innovative in many fields. We still
world too. However, above all it is important. In education, there’s the file a huge number of patents and are
Digital Pact for Schools, which targets still leading in some areas. There too, we
has strengthened our awareness
faster internet and better technical equip still have great opportunities to strengthen
of where digital technology really ment in schools. In times of the corona our position in certain niches. However,
makes sense and where face-to- virus crisis, of course, the demand for this must naturally also be wanted and
face communication is only hard to faster action is increasing. supported accordingly.
replace.
In your view, what are the reasons for The state must do its duty here.
Germany failing to keep up with develop-
Anke Sauter: Germany, as the media ments? Absolutely. Without state help, Silicon
always say, is lagging behind as far as Valley wouldn’t exist as it does today
digitalization is concerned. Is that really It could be reservations, for instance either: It didn’t evolve thanks to entre
the case? regarding security. But much is also preneurial initiative but instead only on
driven by necessity. In the Scandinavian the basis of massive subsidies. It cannot
Friedericke Hardering: We’ve slept through countries, for example, there are far work without a good infrastructure and
digitalization to some extent. The Scan more rural areas, so the benefits of digital corresponding support.
dinavian countries, for example, but solutions can be seen much more clearly.
also Estonia, New Zealand and Israel are Additionally, the German government’s What role does the coronavirus crisis
much further advanced. There, certain focus has long been on old industries play in the advancement of digitalization?
digital processes, for instance digital such as the automotive sector. As a con
administration, are more easily possible. sequence, we’ve been able to blank out Awareness has definitely grown. This
Here at home, even infrastructure is the topic of digitalization and put it to process has been evident for some years
already part of the problem. A good the back of our minds for longer, while now, but there are naturally still some
internet connection is not yet a matter others have adapted their structures deficits. The crisis has contributed to a
of course everywhere in Germany. accordingly. better understanding of what is really
needed and what digital technologies
Is the internet, to mention a frequently And that puts us now at a competitive can do.
quoted statement by Angela Merkel, still disadvantage.
»uncharted territory«? Do we really need online video confer-
Yes, we must attempt to catch up now in ences when there are no distancing
No. There are meanwhile quite enough certain areas. I still believe though – or rules and contact ban?
stakeholders who want to make Germany perhaps it’s more a hope – that we haven’t
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020
»A balancing act for workers«: Lots of people technologies are naturally no panacea. as material assets are concerned, society
are working from home during the coronavirus When other crises come, for instance is very divided, but also in relation to
crisis and looking after their children at the
cyberattacks that threaten our entire skills. Digitalization is making inequali
same time.
system, we’re equally fragile but in a ties appear in a new light and become
completely different way. We shouldn’t even more pronounced.
therefore think that all solutions to cri An extension of the »knowledge gap«
Under normal conditions – without the ses of whatever kind lie in us being bet hypothesis relating to the reception of
coronavirus crisis – we always need a ter networked digitally. mass media in the 1970s?
combination of online and offline, in the
working world but beyond it too. The You’re a labour market sociologist. Exactly. We need to keep an eye on
coronavirus crisis has heightened the zDo you have the impression that this. Not only when we think of rich
demand for information and communi working from home is a good way to and poor, but also of young and old,
cation technologies. But naturally we resolve the situation? there are lines of division everywhere
also need these technologies when we with regard to digital technologies, and
return at some time to normal opera That greatly varies. Many employees these are being exacerbated even further
tions. However, we’ll also then need our use a lot of technology. Above all the now during the peak phase of digital
normal interrelationships in the working more affluent and well-educated who use.
world, that is, normal offline contacts. work, for example, in knowledge-based
professions and were already able to Many people also find the juxtaposition
My question was also concerned with work from home before: They have of professional and family life when
decision-makers in politics and the both the expertise as well as the equip working from home a great burden.
economy: Did it need the jolt of the ment at home and can work equally
coronavirus pandemic to get things well in this situation. But many other This is naturally an extreme situation at
tackled faster? households don’t own a computer and the moment, especially for young fami
a printer and perhaps don’t have the lies with small children or single parents
The urgency has certainly now become corresponding software and skills to who have to work from home and look
clear. We have the opportunity now to use them either. Then working from after their children at the same time.
catch up on certain processes in politics home doesn’t work. What we’re seeing This is by no means the normal situation
and organizations. However, digital now in the crisis is the following: As far when working from home and is now
1.2020 | Forschung Frankfurt
Digitalization and Society
really putting people to the test. In gen clickworker platforms such as Amazon Does digitalization exacerbate precarious
eral, we always have these transient Mechanical Turk, you’ll find relatively employment situations?
boundaries when working from home, simple tasks. To that extent, it’s interest
normally of course with properly func ing that in Germany it tends to be higher Yes, digitalization can exacerbate them.
tioning childcare. But working from qualified people who try out these New actors and platforms are emerging
home is characterized by a far higher services. However, very little is known and even before regulations have been
degree of self-organization compared to about this labour market because it’s dif checked, for instance how the legal situ
activities at the regular place of work. ficult to obtain good data. But it’s defi ation is in general in the case of players
And this is always a balancing act for nitely a growing area, which also poses such as Amazon Mechanical Turk,
workers, as research also shows. major challenges for the trade unions. several thousands of people have already
As we know, solo self-employment is worked there. This means that we’re
Have you conducted studies on this always a relatively unprotected area always lagging behind the latest
yourself? with a lot of uncertainties and precarities, developments.
irrespective of digital technology. This
I recently wrote a review on the topic, constellation becomes even more exacer But back to the traditional labour market:
in particular on how digital technologies bated on such platforms. How can it be that in some countries
in the working world have an impact paying in the supermarket is already fully
on gender relations. On the one hand, Creating regulations here is probably off automated but Germans, now as in the
it could be seen that digitalization the legislator’s radar. past, like best of all to go to the cashier?
makes it easier to combine work and
family life, but on the other hand there Partly. The trade unions are staying on I think there are several reasons for this.
is extremely high time pressure when the ball. They are also reaching out to As we know, Germans love cash, but
working from home, so that the feeling crowdworkers and recognize the prob now several things are changing during
of being overburdened is very high. It’s lems. But the question is, how can we the crisis because they must change.
not the simple path to a better working motivate the solo self-employed to act More people are paying by debit card
world, but rather the course has to be collectively? Overall, certain workers’ now or with their smartphone. Other
set very carefully so that working from rights in Germany and in Europe have countries have had self-service check
home also means good-quality work. been continuously stripped back over the outs far longer, and the customers there
There are currently a lot of studies that last years and job security reduced. In have long been confronted with them.
are watching – on the basis of the coro fact, all we see now is a field of new, rad People have to become accustomed to
navirus crisis – how the situation of ically precarious employment in digital new technologies and learn to trust
working from home is developing. I’m clickwork and crowdwork. them.
already looking forward to seeing the
data.
Digitalization also spawns new forms
of work organization, such as crowd-
working platforms. Have you already
seen this in Germany too?
We have something like crowdwork and
microwork here too. There are more
and more solo self-employed people
working in this domain, but overall
it’s still a small area. Mostly they are
younger persons and students, but also
highly qualified people. If you look at
»Germans love cash«: In times of social distancing
too, people in this country prefer to go to the
cashier than pay at a self-service checkout.
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020
Digitalization and Society
Especially services are being delegated ation processes look – and this at differ
more and more to the customer. ent qualification levels.
Yes. In their consumer behaviour, normal What, then, would be an alienation
people are more and more becoming phenomenon?
workers. For example, when booking
flights. We’re taking on more and more An alienation phenomenon would be,
of the work that used to be done by for example, if people reported that
employees. As a result, you need less there had been a certain type of group
and less employees. Obviously, flights spirit at work in the past which now, as
are getting slightly cheaper. But we’re a result of acceleration processes, for
not just paying for this with a loss of example, no longer exists due to ever-in
jobs. It also means that certain interactive creasing time pressure and pressure to
situations, which are also important for perform. Work is always also a place of
many people, are decreasing; a little chat social interaction and thus very impor
at the checkouts is an important element tant for appropriating the world. And if
of everyday life for many people. That’s workers report that there is no longer
why we should campaign to ensure that any exchange among colleagues because
there are always several options and of changes, that they feel isolated and
that we can continue to choose. There suffer greatly under pressure of work,
should always be a non-digital way to then this would mean they are experi
solve things. encing alienation. But it might naturally
also be that work is losing its complexity.
It’s already been the case for a long time Perhaps in the past you monitored cer
with bank transfers: Do it online or pay tain processes from A to Z but now there
extra. is a new device and you just check at the
end whether the device has done a good
This is, of course, discriminating because job. This changes your work completely.
online banking is impossible without Nice parts of the task disappear, and
certain material prerequisites. Or for you’re only entrusted with a remaining
groups with limitations. That the only task that is less complex and thus makes
way to do certain things is online consti your work less attractive.
tutes a real problem. It’s contingent on
too many factors and ignores the realities Thank you very much for this interview,
of people’s lives. Ms Hardering.
At the beginning, you mentioned your
current research project on the aliena-
tion of people from work that goes hand
in hand with digitalization. This sounds a
bit Marxist.
Marx made a lasting impact on the con About Friedericke Hardering
cept of alienation, but it has a longer
Friedericke Hardering, 39, studied
tradition and goes back to Rousseau,
in Aachen and earned her doctoral
among others. In our project, we have a
degree with a thesis on increasing
somewhat broader concept of aliena insecurities in the working world.
tion. We’re looking at workers’ experi She has been working as a post-
ences with regard to digitalization, how doctoral researcher in the field of
they appropriate work under the condi sociology of work at Goethe
tions of new digital technology. Appro University since 2012. Since 2019
priation is the antonym for alienation: she has headed a research project
How we can connect with new forms of funded by the German Research
work, how this can succeed and under Foundation on the digital alienation
which circumstances it also fails. We’re of work, which is being implemented
in cooperation with Professor
examining areas of the old economy,
Oliver Nachtwey of the University
such as insurance or retail, but also ones
of Basel.
in the new digital economies. We want
to see how these appropriation or alien f.hardering@soz.uni-frankfurt.de
1.2020 | Forschung Frankfurt
Of shitstorms and
»candystorms«
Interview with sociologist Christian Stegbauer
As a network researcher, Dirk Frank: Professor Stegbauer, the In your book about shitstorms, you say
sociologist Professor Christian noughties saw some very ambitious the following: »The narrative of the
Stegbauer also deals with expectations in terms of what the internet, that it facilitates a better world,
communication in social media. internet and social media could achieve has survived into the present«:
That people prefer to stay in a with regard to participation and democ- Remarkable that we’re talking here today
racy. Even representatives of the digital more about the negative effects.
bubble with like-minded others
Bohème, such as Sascha Lobo, are
rather than get to grips with meanwhile critical observers of Facebook, The narrative still exists in the case of
different opinions and ways of etc. Has the utopia transmuted to a major internet companies such as Apple
thinking was in his view inherent dystopia? and Facebook. They tell us that with
to digital communication from their products they’re creating a better
the outset. He considers many of Prof. Christian Stegbauer: When the world, from which we all supposedly
internet started to take off back in the profit. And despite all the negative
the utopian ideas of a digital
1990s and the first web browser became aspects of the internet we can also say,
culture of participation to be available, lots of people thought that a of course, that access to information has
exaggerated. type of communication would now be considerably improved. In the frame
possible which was free of prejudices. work of a study, I dealt with Wikipedia,
Attributions regarding a person’s appear which can be seen as a positive alterna
ance, origin, etc. supposedly no longer tive to the large internet companies
played a role. Many people in sociology because lots of people create knowledge
shared this utopia too. However, if you there that serves the community as a
had thought about it for a while, whole. By contrast, Facebook and Google
you would have realized appropriate things that others create and
even back then that this make enormous profits with them.
cannot be. A structure of
inequality forms on the inter One criticism of Facebook refers to
net too, but it looks a bit differ the fact that we don’t learn anything
ent from when the people com anymore about some of our friends. The
municating with each other are present multiplier effect makes sure that we only
face to face. communicate with friends where there is
lively exchange, the others are sidelined.
1.2020 | Forschung Frankfurt
Digitalization and Society
As a network researcher, I would say which actually makes a person is first of ing not only needy people free entry in
that Facebook is doing something here all his relationships. These determine the framework of a special deal but asylum
which accommodates our needs very what he thinks and how he behaves. In seekers too. The company published the
well. The algorithm tries to make life eas qualitative research, by contrast, the letter on Facebook and a huge »candys
ier for us by primarily displaying mes focus lies on the individual and his sub torm« followed.
sages from people with whom we’ve pre jectivity and the relationship aspect is
viously interacted. Facebook wouldn’t be thus neglected. You say that shitstorms occur when
possible otherwise because we wouldn’t the demarcation from other groups
be able to process the countless mes To call something a »shitstorm«, it’s often increases to such an extent that we no
sages in our network. What Facebook enough that someone is pilloried in a few longer encounter any other way of
does here accommodates the user. How comments on the internet. But doesn’t thinking.
ever, the algorithm has a side effect, so to there, in your understanding, have to be
speak, which we call a filter bubble. a certain quantitative factor for a I’ve studied a forum called Multikulti-
shitstorm? Watch where it explicitly says: »Anyone
This filter bubble hypothesis is quite who does not believe that we Germans
controversial. I wouldn’t know how we could define are discriminated against compared to
the term exactly or demarcate it. In some asylum seekers and foreigners will be
That’s right, critics say that most people cases, a few attacks are sufficient if the blocked without prior warning.« That’s
not only gather information via Face person on the receiving end of the shit an official threat: If someone speaks out
book. I would, however, argue to the storm feels strongly affected. Sometimes, against it, he’ll be kicked out. As an indi
contrary: It doesn’t just depend on the shitstorms are even useful. ING-DiBa’s vidual, the fact that people contradict
filter bubble. In network research, the advertising clip with former basketball you is apparently hard to bear. From a
concept of homophily is very promi player Dirk Nowitzki is a well-known social science perspective, however, it
nent; according to this, we surround example. In the video, Nowitzki is can be explained by the theory of struc
ourselves with people who are similar to handed a slice of ham by a butcher who tural balancing: If you have a liberal
us and have the same opinions. If I asks him: »What did I always says to you opinion and everyone in your own circle
express an opinion that my environ back then?« And Nowitzki answers: »So is against foreigners, then you could
ment doesn’t share, I run the risk of that I grow up big and strong«. A wave of suddenly have a whole bunch of people
being shut out. What’s more: Not every indignation from vegans and vegetarians against you. Indeed, different-minded
one gets involved to an equal degree. ensued. The agency which made the clip people are frequently unfriended on
There are activists who are much more for ING-DiBa later reported that lots of social platforms. This is a social mecha
strongly represented with their opinions customers had taken the bank’s side in nism that also leads to opinions in the
and thus shape my perception of what these shitstorms. social domain aligning themselves with
my Facebook friends think. It’s therefore the ostensible majority opinion.
not the case that everyone has the same In Germany, this positive feedback is
voice, but instead there is a kind of pow known as a »candystorm«. In your opinion, do shitstorms cause
er-law distribution. As a result, we get lasting damage?
the erroneous impression that the opinion Yes, there are several examples for this.
of particularly active people is also the The Miniatur Wunderland theme park Negative communication destroys the
opinion of all the others in our respective in Hamburg received a letter from some basis for a possible discourse. You can
circle of acquaintances. one who had spoken out against allow argue your point, provided you both
What advantage do network research
tools offer in this context?
People are not alone in the world; they
base their actions on others. This is at the
heart of network research when we
examine the structure of relationships.
Because traditional social research does
not consider this, network research is an
alternative to traditional social research
methods. This applies above all for stand
ardized surveys in quantitative research,
Wave of indignation:
where no relationship between inter The ING-DiBa clip with
viewees nor between interviewer and Dirk Nowitzki triggered
interviewee is allowed because that could a shitstorm and a
falsify the results in the sense of a natural »candystorm«.
science measurement. However, that
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020
Digitalization and Society
acknowledge each other and each other’s
opinion. At that moment when the
basis is destroyed, a negative reciprocity
emerges or a reciprocity in conflict, as Christian Stegbauer
Georg Simmel once called it. In fact, we Shitstorms.
should try to be forbearing and not join Der Zusammenprall
in at the same level. However, that is in digitaler Kulturen
fact against the social rule of paying back Springer, 2018
like with like. In the case of famous people,
such shitstorms mostly subside after a
couple of days. But with politicians who When examining a shitstorm against the At one point in your book you say that
have taken a stance against the right Hessenpark museum, I came across some the indignation exhibited on the internet
wing, for example, it’s likely to be more extreme cases of threats of violence. stands not only for the »broken promises
protracted. When the solution offered is to »just of future technology« but also for their
burn Hessenpark down« and employees »partial fulfilment«. Does the internet
I guess we just shouldn't simply allow there are threatened, this stirs up hate. also give citizens a certain »power«?
everything. But that’s exactly what you’re You ask yourself when this violence will
also lamenting, that many mass media one day erupt in reality. In the rhetoric of As a citizen, you no longer have to hide
switch off the comments function due to the Alternative for Germany political from »those at the top«, the authorities.
vast public pressure. party, for example, people like to talk In terms of democracy, that is something
about »knifemen«. That does not now fundamentally positive. There are shit
For the media, it’s often the only possibil mean that the people who talk like that storm-like protests which are positive in
ity to moderate this in a very regulated necessarily resort to violence themselves. a certain sense because they campaign,
manner. However, moderation is expen But it creates a mood that gives a certain for example, for consumer rights. If a
sive, and then – under certain circum backing to those ready to do so. Right- company has brought a product onto the
stances – an accusation of censorship wing groups attempt every day to scan market that does not deliver what it
follows. dalize topics, which also includes staging promises, through massive protests con
shitstorms. Sometimes such an operation sumers can get the company to back
You also mention in your book that criticism transfers out of a small circle of sympa down. But in a constitutional state, you
of right-wing populist positions is very thizers to a wider public. In the case of also need certain protection for specific
often associated with people’s limited the Hessenpark museum, the complaint groups as well as respect for institutions.
abilities to express themselves in writing. was that asylum seekers were allowed in We should therefore not tear down all
free of charge, while Germans, even barriers, even if that would sometimes be
In milieus such as the middle-class and those on income support, had to pay. desirable from the perspective of radical
conservative FAZ newspaper, for exam Now we could, of course, say that in a democratization.
ple, readers who write letters to the edi certain way this was unfair. On the other
tor attach great importance to meticu hand, for the purpose of integration it’s
lously respecting every full stop, comma important that migrants learn something The interview was conducted by Dirk Frank.
and upper and lower case. There, you’re about the culture of the country that has
only acknowledged if you write cor taken them in. The line of argument then
rectly. However, as a matter of principle looks quite different again.
we should not disparage people because
of their education. The better educated
are at an advantage in terms of political
About Christian Stegbauer
participation anyway. However, as far as
communication on the internet is con Already in the 1980s as a student assistant at Goethe
cerned, the threshold has lowered. Peo University, Christian Stegbauer was entrusted with a
ple without the ability to express them small study on mailboxes. Later he wrote an article for
selves in sophisticated language will Forschung Frankfurt (Issue 4, 1995) on the introduction
surround themselves accordingly with of email there: He is now an associate professor for
people to whom that’s not so important. sociology at Goethe University and currently conduct-
ing research on the formation of microcultures in
However, this widens the social divide
social situations. How this occurs is explained in the
even further.
book »Grundlagen der Netzwerkforschung: Situationen,
Mikronetzwerke und Kultur« on the basis of everyday
A very topical issue right now is right- behaviour. His book on »Shitstorms« shows under
wing radicalism, whose representatives which conditions shitstorms develop.
also and above all organize themselves stegbauer@soz.uni-frankfurt.de
on the internet. Does network research
have something to say about this
phenomenon?
1.2020 | Forschung Frankfurt
Digitalisation and
sustainability –
not a contradiction
Energy-efficient computers such as that of Volker Lindenstruth
and his team provide an ecological cushion for growing data hunger
By Regina Kremer
Coffee from a machine, the online edition
of our daily newspaper, a traffic update:
our day starts digitally and continues digitally.
This requires energy, a lot of energy.
But do we know how much?
1.2020 | Forschung Frankfurt
Digitalization and Society
I
n Germany alone, the use of the internet successor to the Loewe-CSC – in 2017. An inno
releases as much CO2 every year as total air vative construction principle that pairs high
traffic. But how can the possibilities of IT be energy savings with high performance forms the
exploited while saving environmental resources basis. In February 2020, Lindenstruth and his
at the same time? The Frankfurt physicist, Pro team received a European patent for the overall
fessor Volker Lindenstruth has developed concept of an energy-efficient cooling structure
impressive and pioneering technologies toward for data centers. Now this concept can be used
this goal. economically worldwide.
Lindenstruth has been working as professor
for high performance computer architecture at Enormous opportunities for the future
Goethe University since 2009. Using unusual with digitalisation
ideas, creativity and confidence, he mastered The developments of the past year have made it
the challenge of building a high-performance clear: digitalisation offers enormous opportuni
computer for the university’s research network ties for the future, both globally as well as for
that is fast and high performing, and both individuals. The economy, society and environ
cost-saving and energy-efficient. In 2010 mental protection all stand to benefit. High per
the supercomputer he developed, Loewe-CSC formance computers (supercomputers) provide
located at the Hoechst Industry Park, took up calculations, security and predictions in a vast
operation as the most energy efficient computer number of areas such as:
in Europe at that time. At the same time the cor
responding data center is one of the most effi • the
automobile industry for highly developed
cient ones world wide. It was followed by the efficiency and security in driving,
Green IT Cube data center for the GSI in
Darmstadt in 2016, and the GOETHE-HR – as • medicine for the prediction of diseases and
calculation of their progression (see Forschung
Frankfurt 2/2019 »Prevention is better than
healing«),
• meteorology,
with long-term prognoses for
economic planning for the economy, medi
cine and politics – for farmers in the manage
ment of arable land, for insurance companies
in adjusting premiums to probabilities of
unusual weather situations, but also for
hospitals for emergency planning in extreme
weather conditions,
• for
sustainability and climate protection with
computer simulations on the future of electric
cars and autonomous driving.
In the future, continually increasing amounts
of data will be collected by ground stations,
ships, airplanes and satellites with the help of
computers, and more and more data will be
stored, searched, distributed and visualised. The
worldwide volume of data will continue to
grow. With 40 zettabytes in 2020, it is already 50
times greater than in 2017. (For comparison:
the maximum storage capacity of the human
brain corresponds to about 2.5 petabytes in Green IT Cube, computer
digital units, with a petabyte being a 1 followed centre of the GSI Helmholtz
Centre for Heavy Ion Research
by 15 zeroes.) The demands made on the perfor
in Darmstadt.
mance of computers and processors, and on the
speed with which data is accessed and processed
are continually increasing. And there will also
be ever larger amounts of data to manage on
private computers, smartphones, tablets, exter
nal hard drives and in the cloud.
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020Digitalization and Society
Toward this end, data centres are being
developed and built all over the world, in which
What is …? computes from one or more companies are
located. Here, a server is a computer that sends,
Hardware
receives and stores data to and from other com
the »body« of the computer, can only be
changed by reconstruction. Hardware puters (clients) on request. The available IT
includes: resources are assigned according to an organised
schedule and ideally work to capacity, allowing
• processor or CPU (Central Processing
Unit), centrepiece: computing unit that the simultaneous accessing of several data units
carries out the assigned tasks/ in these servers. In terms of dimension: experts
computing operations, to date it Graphic card with estimate that Facebook’s data centres comprise
consists of multiple CPU cores ventilator for cooling. 30,000 computers.
• CPU core Rechenkern: smallest
computing unit of a processor Corona crisis: heyday for digitalisation
The most recent example of network use is the
• graphic card,
typically serves two functions. It generates the signals for the display corona crisis: networks were used here to follow
monitor and implements compute functionality to perform operations the course of the infection worldwide. With
directly on the image data. In the computing context this computing the supercomputer of the GoetheUniversity,
capability is used for processing. The video functionality of a graphics the evolution of the pandemic was predicted.
card remains unused in this context. This work was carried out by Dr. Maria
• CPU-dependent, converts data computed by the processor Barbarossa (FIAS) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Lippert
• GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)-dependent, computes data (Goethe-University/FIAS). As a consequence of
independent of CPU, works faster the social distancing decreed by governments,
Software – the »brain« of the computer digital forms of contact and leisure activities
Programmes, responsible for system operations, information processing and increased with a vengeance. The central Ger
all the data this produces. Can be changed by, for example, updates. Example: man internet node DE-CIX in Frankfurt, the
navigation system in a car largest exchange point for internet data traffic
Server worldwide, reported a 50 percent increase in the
video conferencing rate and 25 percent increase
A computer with typically several multi-core processors, large amounts of
memory and a fast network. Servers are usually hosted in data centers. in online and cloud gaming.
The TOP500 is a list of the highest perform
Data centre ing computers in the world, compiled since
Centralised facility for hosting a typically large number of servers including 1993 by four experts at the universities of
mass storage servers. The storage, management and processing of data and
Tennessee and Mannheim. First place is taken
information in servers is organised according to a certain area of knowledge
or belonging to a specific company. by the high performance computer Fugaku at
RIKEN in Japan with a performance of 416
Supercomputer – the giants among the computers petaflops. Its areas of application are various
Greatest possible computing power, difficult to imagine, »in its own league« research fields such as nuclear physics and stem
Performance is measured in FLOP: floating point operations per second, cell research. Its power consumption amounts
Example: The fastest computer in the world, Fugaku in Japan has 415
to 28 334 megawatts. The computer Super
petaFLOP. One petaFLOP means a quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000 / 10 to the
15th power!) floating point operations per second! 20,000 to 50,000 times MUC-NG at the Leibniz Rechenzentrum in
faster than a »normal« computer Munich is at 13th place. It carries out calcula
tions for climate research, earthquake and seis
Internet nodes = Central train station/ Internet train station mology research.
Merger of various networks or servers at central hubs, data exchange
between the different networks
Growing electricity consumption due
to digitalisation
Global internet nodes, centres for the Scientists believe that that by the year 2030, 13
organisation of data communication. percent of worldwide electricity consumption
will be caused by data centres. The city of Frank
furt, an extremely important exchange point
(»network node«) for internet data traffic,
already consumes 30 percent of total local elec
tricity for data centres.
The Borderstep Institute in Berlin for inno
vation and sustainability in the future calculated
the CO2 emissions: a thousand tons of CO2 are
formed by the sending of a million emails per
day in Germany, one gram per email. An hour
of video streaming produces the same amount
1.2020 | Forschung FrankfurtDigitalization and Society
View of some of the GSI‘s 768
computer cabinets, resting on
green steel girders.
About Volker Lindenstruth
Volker Lindenstruth studied physics at the Technical University of Darmstadt.
From 1989 to 1993 he did research at the Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion
Research (GSI) in Darmstadt, and received his doctorate degree at the Goethe
University Frankfurt. As part of a research fellowship, he went to the Ernest
Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, USA, for two years
as a postdoctoral fellow in computer science. From 1995 to 1997 he was a
member of the UC Space Science Laboratory, USA, before founding iCore
Technologies in 1997. Since 1998 Prof. Lindenstruth is back in Germany. Until 2009
he held the chair of Computer Engineering at the University of Heidelberg and
director of the Kirchhoff Institute. Since 2009 he is professor for High Perfor-
mance Computing Architecture at Goethe University. The chair focuses on the
architecture, application and further development of high-performance comput-
ers in the natural and life sciences. At the European Research Centre CERN near
Geneva he developed an intelligent readout technique for the data of the ALICE
experiment. He is also a member of the board of the Frankfurt Institute for
Advanced Studies (FIAS) at the Goethe University.
voli@fias.uni-frankfurt.de
of CO2 as a kilometre of driving. The search for an effective computer architecture and
machine Google handles about 5.6 billion search architecture of data centres, combined with the
requests per day worldwide, with an electricity development of a high-performing, energy efficient
demand of 0.3 watthours per search request and cost-saving supercomputer is composed of
according to Google – to make it easier to different approaches:
imagine: with 200 search requests you could
iron a shirt. • He takes a critical view of existing data
In Lindenstruth’s view, this immense energy centres with regard to energy efficiency,
consumption, and the cost intensity of the degree of use, architecture and arrangement
machines cannot be attributed solely to use. of the many computers. The software-based
Both aspects could already be positively influ servers must run day and night due to use,
enced in the constructions of these machines but often at a work capacity of only 25
according to Lindenstruth. His innovative concept percent. The data centres in Europe and the
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020One of Google’s largest computer centres
worldwide in Douglas County (Georgia, USA),
not far from Atlanta.
What are the units a high performance computer works with? mance speed, comparing this to a car that
only drives in one gear. The unused capacity
Bit: a binary figure or unit for information content or data of the computer is lost as heat. An increase in
volume: alphanumeric symbols (0, 1 …, A,B …) the performance of the software by the factor
100 to 1,000 could be achieved by a revision
Byte (B): measuring unit for digital technology and information of the algorithms.
systems 1 byte = 8 bits
• Graphic
cards are necessary computational
1 kilobyte (KB) = 103 B (about a fourth of a printed page) tools for a computer to work. Today, all
1 megabyte (MB) = 1 000 000 bytes (500 pages of text, for comparison: graphic cards have their own storage. The
long-term stored information units in the brain of a 60 internal GPUs normally installed, however,
year-old 150 to 225 MB are not super-fast. Moreover, the image
resolution is not very high. Lindenstruth
1 gigabyte (GB) = 109 bytes (storage capacity of USB sticks up to 64 GB)
prefers GPU graphic cards developed for
1 terabyte (TB) = 1012 B(current maximum storage capacity of an external computer games that can operate inde
hard drive 16 TB) pendently of the computer’s processor. The
1 petabyte (PB) = 1015 B (memory content of all living 6 billion people idea of integrating them in the computer as
today about 1350 petabytes as of the 1990’s) independently working graphic cards has
proven to be pioneering and highly efficient.
1 exabyte (EB) = 1018 B (in 2019 customers of the mobile net O2 caused
They are particularly high performing with
more than an exabyte in traffic for the first time –
fast computing power, because the individual
this is more than 1 billion gigabytes)
computing power does not interact with
1 zettabyte (ZB) = 1021 B (presumably, the NSA stores data volumes of others, and simultaneously-running algo
several zettabytes) rithms accelerate the computing process.
In addition, the computing power is produced
in its own GPU processor. The cost of these
graphic cards is manageable, as rising demand
US alone have an energy use of 40 gigawatt. means they are manufactured at low cost in
»Forty gigawatts are equal to about the half high number. Eight hundred of these graphic
of total German electricity consumption, cards were built into the first supercomputer
which is about 70 GW. Overall, 10 GW Loewe-CSC. At CERN, the European organi
worldwide could be saved alone by optimiz sation for nuclear research, Lindenstruth
ing the data centers,« says Lindenstruth. tripled the computing power of the two-mil
lion euro computer by using graphic cards
• He furthermore explains that due to poorly with a value of 500 euro per card.
written or outdated software, many comput
ers work at lower levels of performance, with • Lindenstruth
sees one of the greatest need
high energy consumption and low perfor for action in the cooling of the computer.
1.2020 | Forschung FrankfurtDigitalization and Society
Whether desktop or high performing requires less than 7 percent of the total required
computer, the processers emit heat while energy of the data centre for cooling – compared
working. Until now, cooling has been carried to 30 percent for other cooling systems – making
out by the intake and release of air which Green IT Cube an important step toward sus
is passed on to the exterior air by the com tainable digitalisation.
puter’s built-in fans. This leads to a rise in
room temperature; in rooms containing Without doubt: our future is digital
supercomputers sometimes to more than 50 It opens possibilities to make the rapid eco
degrees Celsius. In addition, the fans them nomic, social and – no contradiction – climatic
selves require about 4 percent of the energy changes easier to plan and shape successfully.
required by the processor itself. The unavoidable increase in energy consump
tion does not have to be in conflict with sustain
The cooling system developed by Linden ing the natural foundation of life. The research
struth and patented in February 2020 is based by Lindenstruth and his team, and of many
on a simple trick: a cold water cooling system is other research groups in the field of green IT are
built into the back door of the rack containing promising. Sustainable technology contributes
the computer by means of a heat exchanger. to the protection of climate and natural resources.
The hot air of the system is transferred to the Every individual can act in a »digitally sustain
water and cooled. The heated water is cooled able« way. Digitalisation and sustainability do
according to the principle of a refrigerator. not have to be a contradiction.
»When you sweat in the summer and the water
on your skin evaporates, you begin to shiver,«
Lindenstruth says, describing his concept. The
room temperature can be maintained at a con
stant using this cooling system. The server’s
waste heat can be used to heat other rooms or
distributed beneficially through district heating
systems.
»Green IT Cube« as a guide to more
energy efficiency
With »Green IT Cube«, Lindenstruth was able to
achieve the ambitious goal of building a large
scale data center with these requirements. This
data centre was completed in January 2016 in
Darmstadt at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für
Schwerionenforschung. Stacked shelves stand
in the »cube« which measures 27 m x 30 m x
22 m, in which 768 computer cabinets can be
arranged on six levels. The three-dimensional
structure – next to each other, on top of each
other – is 10 times more compact than conven
tional building methods. The connections – i.e.,
the cable lengths between circuits are therefore
shorter, signal transmission is faster, allowing
The author
experiments or simulations of extraordinary Regina Kremer, born in 1956, studied biology
intensity and speed, and it is overall an environ and chemistry for secondary teaching degree
mentally friendly architecture. At least 300,000 at the University of Gießen. She teaches at the
computing engines Rechenkerne (1 processer Claus-von-Stauffenberg-Schule, a secondary
contains several several computing units = com school in Rodgau in the district of Offenbach.
puting engine Rechenkern) are planned, with As senior teacher, having contact to the nearby
storage space totalling up to 100 petabytes, universities is important to her. She regularly
which is equal to 100.000 conventional com arranges for her students to participate in
scientific projects at the universities in Frankfurt,
puter hard drives. The data transmission rate for
Mainz and Darmstadt. She developed an
experimental computing processes is one tera
affinity to IT through planning her classes and
byte per second, which is equal to 500 000 putting together the most up-to-date working
private DSL connections. The cool water cooling materials.
system developed by Lindenstruth in the back
regikremer1@t-online.de
doors of the computer cabinets cools 12 mega
watts of the total computer performance and
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020LAW and ORDER
Law and Order
The »Criminal Law« of
predictive society
… or how »smart« algorithms (could) change the administration of criminal justice
By Christoph Burchard
Applying AI to criminal law and justice –
a threatening vision of the future or a utopia of
security and freedom?
I
t is the year 2054. An imminent double mur- data) in such a way that individual behaviour
der, a crime of passion, is reported to the pre-cop can be predicted with increasing accuracy.
department of Washington D.C. After consult- This has long been established in many areas
ing a face database and other databases, the of life: who will buy what online? Who will
detective in charge quickly identifies the perpe- with what probability be unable to repay their
trator and the crime scene. A pre-cop team loan? These questions, directed at the future,
rushes over and at the last minute (the weapon are answered algorithmically in the present, in
was already being raised for action), they are order to be able to »re«-act immediately. In
able to prevent the crime from taking place. The these areas, our society is being transformed
perpetrator is then arrested for the future killing into something like algorithmic predictive soci-
of his wife and her lover. This is the opening of ety. Traditionally, uncertainty about how the
Minority Report, a science fiction thriller from future will develop is processed by human prog-
2002. In it, the pre-crime programme – preventing noses, and also by trust in certain institutions,
crimes before they happen – has made crime a especially the law. In predictive society, this task
thing of the past. »That which keeps us safe will is assumed by probability calculations from
also keep us free« – this is how the programme »smart« algorithms, whose capabilities far
is promoted: as the perfect reconciliation of exceed human data processing capabilities. In
security and freedom. predictive society, therefore, the accuracy of the
algorithms and the availability of the necessary
The future is now – even in criminal law data are the actual currency, and consequently
and justice! the actual source of societal power.
As fantastical as it seemed in the film – this Criminal law is no exception here. The
future has already begun. However, whereas in »criminal law« of predictive society is already in
Minority Report, Hollywood still had to depend the making. Here are just a few examples:
on individuals with clairvoyant abilities, today
»smart« algorithms are employed. Driven by • Predictive
and big-data policing promises to
artificial intelligence (AI) and ever faster com- be able to identify crime scenes (abstract) as
putational possibilities, they are able to analyse well as victims and perpetrators (individually)
large and apparently unconnected datasets (big before the crime is committed. In this
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020Law and Order
manner, patrol cars should be able to be sent
to hotspots before break-ins etc. occur. These
kinds of programmes are being used globally,
including in Hessen, where we use software
from the US provider Palantir, making our-
selves to some extent dependent on such
firms in the process.
• Risk assessment programmes promise a more
precise estimate of the harmlessness/danger- Can crimes really
ousness of criminals. Those posing a threat to be predicted? In 2002,
Tom Cruise plays a
society should removed from society longer,
police officer in
harmless criminals released from custody »Minority Report« who
sooner or put on parole from the start. himself gets caught in
This not only provides security, it also saves the machinery of the
pre-crime programme.
money – which is the reason that these
The movie takes places
programmes are already being widely applied in the year 2054 and is
in the USA. based on a short story
from 1956.
• Government agencies are not alone in relying
on predictions to prevent crime; in fact, the
government is a shrinking subset of predictive
society. Crime prevention and even more Algorithms in the administration of criminal
importantly pre-emption are both being justice may be accompanied by considerable
»privatised«. Monitoring programmes shifts in power, especially to the benefit of those
are being developed for grocery stores among actors »behind« the algorithms – such as the IT
other things in order to identify shoplifters company, which in the USA does not even have
before they shoplift. And predictive policing to make the algorithmic foundations of its risk
algorithms can also be used by employers. assessment programmes public (!). Democratic
The buzzword is digital criminal compliance: lawmakers must also be taken into considera-
the digitally supported real-time prevention tion, however. They would seem to be able to
of compliance violations such as corruption in »finally« govern completely through algo-
business dealings or market manipulations. rithms. Defending vested interests (»We have
always done it this way!«) is, however, not an
• But the risk emanating from potential argument against the »criminal law« of predic-
perpetrators is not the only future that can tive society. Even less so, when this appears to
be determined predictively. Judges and fulfil the promises of criminal justice better than
prosecutors are increasingly viewed as a risk the original. Where criminal law can only oper-
because they may evaluate subjectively and ate contra-factually and normatively (»Thou
with bias – be swayed, for example, by racial shalt not kill! But you can.«), predictive society
prejudice. There are considerations to review promises factuality (»Thou cannot kill!«).
the relative reasonableness of penalties by Technically, these promises are still difficult
algorithm before they are imposed. This falls to fulfil. In the USA, predictive policing pro-
on sympathetic ears in Germany, too. After grammes have already been discontinued
all, penalties vary significantly throughout because they have not proven to be sufficiently
Germany, and not just between north and effective. Comprehensive face recognition is
south. switched off, because it is discriminating for
technical reasons. And it has become clear that
»Thou shalt not kill!« risk assessment algorithms are not – as had orig-
– becomes »Thou cannot kill!« inally been hoped for by citizen rights move-
How should one react to all these develop- ments – a valid means for overcoming the
ments? A frequent reaction is the with the deeply rooted racism in the US criminal justice
defence of one’s vested interests: »Algorithms system. Predictions »today« are normally only
can’t do what experienced crime officers and as neutral as the data that was collected »yester-
experts (judges, prosecutors, defence attorneys, day«. If the data input is racist, the prediction
etc.) can do. Algorithms cannot grasp the com- output is also racist (bias in, bias out – or more
plexities of penalties, not to mention let com- bluntly: crap in, crap out). If this is coupled
mon sense prevail.« So one hears, time and with blind faith in technology, the bias – such as
again. But this is often just whistling in the a racist bias – of the prediction goes socially
dark. undetected.
1.2020 | Forschung FrankfurtAs serious as these objections are, they are mative. This applies all the more as algorithmic
ineffective overall against the new »criminal predictions (so we are constantly promised) are
law« of predictive society. They act instead as even better and more effective than law at pro-
arguments for technological development and viding security in the future.
more innovation. The causes and justifications The fact that the transition to predictive soci-
for more prediction in the administration of ety means an increase in surveillance trends (no
criminal justice remain unaffected. Certainly, predictions without data!) seems to be accept-
smart algorithms are like a black box, whose able to many. What is decisive in this regard is
prognoses cannot be comprehended – but
doesn’t the court also make its sentencing deci-
sions in closed chambers? And yes, algorithms
may be prone to error and bias – but doesn’t this
apply even more to judges, who are also »only« IN A NUTSHELL
human?
• We are underway toward becoming
Where does the need for algorithms come from? an »algorithmic predictive society«:
artificial intelligence and big data lead
WWhat drives us, then, to »criminal law« in
to increasing algortihmic predicitons of
predictive society? A lot is probably due to the
future behaviour so that we can
complex relationship between »trust and conflict«.
»re«-act to them in the present.
It also has to do with how legal systems or algo-
rithms process and reduce social complexities – • The more trust in the constitutional
future uncertainties, in other words. state diminishes, the more society
The social acceptance of predictive society relies on the purpoted efficiency and
goes hand in hand with the loss and shifting of objectivity of algorthmic predictions to
trust. Trust in others is lost when they are no generate future security.
long viewed as fellow citizens, politicians (law- • Justice and police use prediction
makers) or judges (law appliers), but rather as algorithms for the purpose of predicting
risks. This brings other actors into play (such as crime and the dangerousness of
private »code makers« and »code appliers«). In criminals, among other things
addition, mistrust toward law as a means of • When analysing these algorithmic
reducing social complexity is growing – espe- predictions scientifically, it is important
cially when law becomes politicised and is either – as it is now in the corona crisis – to
unable or unwilling to negotiate social conflicts reassess the relation betwen security
neutrally. The less social conflicts are able to be and freedom anew. What measure of
confined as legal conflicts and thereby neutral- security is a basic rerquirement for
ised, the greater the trust in the neutrality of freedome? And when does the former
code and IT (»In code and technology we trust!«), excessively curtail the latter?
even if code and IT are actually thoroughly nor-
Forschung Frankfurt | 1.2020Law and Order
that surveillance in the age of surveillance capi- we need to review the issue with a cool head
talism (Zuboff) becomes ever more »liquefied« without succumbing to techno phobia.
(Baumann): surveillance is difficult to grasp, Whom, for example, does a predictive soci-
especially in the West, as it is no longer per- ety act upon when it thinks of its members (one
ceived as authoritarian force, but as realization should no longer speak of citizens) primarily as
of freedom (the digital traces we voluntarily a risk – even as potential dangers? And what
leave in social networks come to mind). Moreo- effect does this have on iron principles of crimi-
ver, for many citizens, whether their security nal law – such as the presumption of innocence
fears are justified or not, it seems acceptable for and the in dubio pro reo principle – if the algo-
them to be algorithmically evaluated as long as rithmic probability calculation has precedence
others are, too. This is in keeping with the naive, over the idea that judges should only convict
but effective motto: »Those who have nothing when no reasonable doubt remains? And would
to hide have nothing to fear from algorithmic this be such a terrible thing? After all, the idea of
surveillance and risk evaluation!« »without a reasonable doubt« is not immune to
abuse either? And what does this mean with
What remains of criminal law regard to the doctrine of probable cause as the
Not until we comprehend what propels us necessary prerequisite for taking up criminal
toward the »criminal law« of predictive society investigations if probable cause can visibly be
can we arrive at the crux of the matter. What is generated automatically from big data? Moreo-
left of our current understanding of criminal ver, can a democratically constituted predictive
law in predictive society? What is the »criminal society do without the checks and balances of
law« – which is intentionally put into quotation the law (as it is executed by humans)? (The fact
marks – of predictive society? What axioms does that and how the Bundesverfassungsgericht –
it rest on? And can these axioms be defended? the Federal Constitutional Court – recently top-
In keeping with the best of Frankfurt traditions, pled the criminal prohibition against suicide
assistance comes to mind.) Finally: can and may
predictive society do without the postulate
(which is admittedly not constantly realistic)
that the one judging must also be able to be the
one being judged (something that is difficult
with algorithms)?
Do we have a right to violate the law?
But above all there is the question of freedom
in the »criminal law« of predictive society. In
Minority Report, a crime of passion was inten-
tionally placed at the beginning of the story. The
»criminal« (who did not even commit the
The author crime!) was more or less spontaneously inspired
to commit the »crime« (which he did not even
Christoph Burchard, 44, is Professor for
complete!) when he found his wife in their mar-
Criminal Law and Criminal Procedural Law at
the Faculty of Law at Goethe University, and ital bed with her lover. Crimes planned well in
Principal Investigator with the resesarch advance no longer exist in Minority Report.
collaboration Normative Orders. He is a Goethe »People have gotten the message!« – is how a
Fellow at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissen- protagonist describes it.
schaften Bad Homburg. Burchard’s research What sounds like a utopia in which security
includes changes in criminal justice through (there is no more crime) and freedom (everyone
digitalisation and internationalisation, and the enjoys legal certainty) are maximised can
current renationalisation of society. In 2019 his quickly turn into a dystopia. This happens when
publications included »Die Konstitutionalisi- the getting of »the message« turns into the una-
erung der gegenseitigen Anerkennung« (The
voidable internalisation of all algorithmic deter-
Constitutionalisation of Mutual Recognition)
minations and power structures they express;
(published by Klostermann) and »Künstliche
Intelligenz als Ende des Strafrechts? Zur and when all criticism of the smart algorithms
algorithmischen Transformation der Gesellschaft« on the grounds of anticipatory compliance with
(Artificial Intelligence as the End of Criminal algorithmic predictions falls silent. This is where
Law? On the Algorithmic Transformation of the emancipatory and authoritarian potential of
Society) (in the Jahrbuch für Recht und Ethik predictive society come together. And the ques-
(Yearbook for Law and Ethics)). tion arises: does the autonomy to be able to in
burchard@jur.uni-frankfurt.de fact commit crimes belong to the core of a free
democratic basic order? Is there a kind of right
1.2020 | Forschung FrankfurtYou can also read
