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OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Improving data
security must be
a top priority
Russian meddling in the U.S.
For would-be world leaders, they
election certainly should make
were blindingly stupid. Unlike the
all Americans angry, no matter
Watergate burglary that required
our political differences. Moving
physically entering an office and
forward, it’s important to learn
trying to steal papers, we live in an
from it and incorporate these
age when electronic information
lessons throughout our personal,
is spread throughout the world on
professional and political lives.
computer servers, protected (and
Despicable as it was to hack into unprotected) in ways few of us
understand. Nothing should ever be
Democratic National Committee
sent in an email or
computers and
stored electronically
selectively leak
Far more important that you would
information
want to have
in a way that
than a physical fence not
read aloud in a
undercut the
along a peaceful
court deposition or
party’s candidate,
report. For
such shenanigans
international border, news
ordinary citizens,
couldn’t have been
effective if the DNC defending our elec- the corresponding
had not engaged
tronic frontier ought lesson is to
zealously
in embarrassing
to be at the forefront safeguard financial
acts and stockpiled
damaging data in its
of the U.S. national information, credit
card numbers and
files.
agenda
passwords. Any
Three keys points
time such data is
to note about this:
exposed in an email
• The DNC
or other unencrypted form, it is
and, presumably, the Republican
susceptible to being skimmed off
National Committee are guilty
and misused.
of trying to skew the presidential
• Government and corporations
selection process in ways that
owe an enormous responsibility
support favorites already anointed
to better protect electronic
behind the scenes. Many in the
information. Our democracy,
DNC believed Hillary Clinton was
economy and security hang in the
owed her party’s nomination by
balance. Far more important than
acclamation. They resented Bernie
Sanders’ spirited opposition. To the a physical fence along a peaceful
extent they are capable of doing so, international border, defending our
electronic frontier ought to be at
the national political committees
the forefront of the U.S. national
must resolve to be honest brokers
agenda. If the world tips into
that provide a level playing field
chaos — as it has often done in
for all credible candidates. Citizen
the past — in today’s world it may
resentment about being force-fed
political dynasties — in the form of be because a madman, tyrant or
criminal enterprise deliberately or
the Clintons and Bushes — partly
accidentally crashes the information
precipitated the Trump surprise.
systems on which we rely for so
• If the DNC was incapable of
many vital services in modern life.
withstanding or resisting efforts
We’ve been delivered a
by Clinton stalwarts to skew the
stinging rebuke about sloppy data
selection process, it should at a
management. Let’s never allow it to
minimum have been much smarter
about protecting its inner workings. be repeated.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of publisher
Kathryn Brown, managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, and opinion page editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
Retirement foresight is lacking,
but default contributions unfair
The (Bend) Bulletin, Dec. 31
T
he Oregon Retirement Savings
Plan, created by the 2015
Legislature, is supposed to be
up and running by July 1, rolled out in
stages by the treasurer’s office.
While the state is still in the process
of creating the final rules for the plan,
part of the law that created it should be
changed. That rule requires businesses
to enroll employees in the plan unless
those employees take the trouble to
opt out of it. It’s expected to apply to
roughly 64,000 employers in the state.
There’s no doubt too few
Oregonians are saving for their
retirement years. In fact, about 60
percent of those working for pay in
this state have no retirement plan
available to them at their workplace,
according to the Center for Retirement
Research at Boston College. That’s
about 1 million Oregonians who, if
nothing changes, will retire with only
their Social Security checks to keep
them warm. That’s a thin blanket,
indeed.
The Oregon plan should change
that. Governed by the new Oregon
Retirement Savings Board, the plan
will allow uncovered workers to put
money into professionally managed
investment accounts regularly.
Employers must make it possible for
employees to participate, and that will
mean some cost of employee time, if
nothing else.
But as it’s now written, the law
governing the plan has a flaw.
Uncovered Oregonians will be
enrolled automatically, and 5 percent
of their paychecks deducted as
contributions to the plan. They may
choose to leave, but it will take action
on their part to do so. The automatic
enrollment provision is there, no doubt,
to ensure that as many Oregonians as
possible participate.
The 2017 Legislature should make
enrollment optional. It’s one thing to
require employers to make the plan
available to workers. It may also be
reasonable to require them to actively
inform workers of the option. It’s
another thing to make participation
the default option, no matter what the
workers themselves might think.
The Legislature should treat
working Oregonians as the adults they
are, and give them the option to choose
to take part in the plan.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website.
The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns
about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of
private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not
be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to managing
editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
From hands to
heads to hearts
S
oftware has started writing
I have a purpose, therefore I am. I
poetry, sports stories and
pause and reflect, therefore I am.”
business news. IBM’s Watson is
We will still need manual labor,
co-writing pop hits. Uber has begun
and people will continue working
deploying self-driving taxis on real
with machines to do extraordinary
city streets and, last month, Amazon
things. Seidman is simply arguing
delivered its first package by drone to
that the tech revolution will force
a customer in rural England.
humans to create more value with
Add it all up and you quickly
Thomas hearts and between hearts. I agree.
realize that Donald Trump’s election Friedman When machines and software control
isn’t the only thing disrupting
more and more of our lives, people
Comment
society today. The far more profound
will seek out more human-to-human
disruption is happening in the
connections — all the things you
workplace and in the economy at large,
can’t download but have to upload the
as the relentless march of technology has
old-fashioned way, one human to another.
brought us to a point where machines and
Seidman reminded me of a Talmudic
software are not just outworking us but
adage: “What comes from the heart, enters
starting to outthink us in more and more
the heart.” Which is why even jobs that
realms.
still have a large technical component
To reflect on this rapid change, I sat
will benefit from more heart. I call these
down with my teacher and
STEMpathy jobs— jobs
friend Dov Seidman, CEO
that combine STEM
of LRN, which advises
(science, technology,
companies on leadership
engineering, math) skills
and how to build ethical
with human empathy, like
cultures, for his take.
the doctor who can extract
“What we are
the best diagnosis from
experiencing today bears
IBM’s Watson on cancer
striking similarities in
and then best relate it to a
size and implications to
patient.
the scientific revolution
No wonder one of
that began in the 16th
the fastest-growing U.S.
century,” said Seidman.
franchises today is Paint
“The discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo, Nite, which runs paint-while-drinking
which spurred that scientific revolution,
classes for adults. Bloomberg Businessweek
challenged our whole understanding of the
explained in a 2015 story that Paint Nite
world around and beyond us — and forced
“throws after-work parties for patrons
us as humans to rethink our place within it.” who are largely lawyers, teachers and tech
Once scientific methods became
workers eager for a creative hobby.” The
enshrined, we used science and reason
artist-teachers who work five nights a week
to navigate our way forward, he added,
can make $50,000 a year connecting people
so much so that “the French philosopher
to their hearts.
René Descartes crystallized this age of
Economies get labeled according to
reason in one phrase: ‘I think, therefore I
the predominant way people create value,
am.’” Descartes’ point, said Seidman, “was
pointed out Seidman, also author of the
that it was our ability to ‘think’ that most
book “How: Why How We Do Anything
distinguished humans from all other animals Means Everything.” So, the industrial
on earth.”
economy, he noted, “was about hired
The technological revolution of the
hands. The knowledge economy was about
21st century is as consequential as the
hired heads. The technology revolution
scientific revolution, argued Seidman, and
is thrusting us into ‘the human economy,’
it is “forcing us to answer a most profound
which will be more about creating value
question — one we’ve never had to ask
with hired hearts — all the attributes that
before: ‘What does it mean to be human in
can’t be programmed into software, like
the age of intelligent machines?’”
passion, character and collaborative spirit.”
In short: If machines can compete with
It’s no surprise that the French
people in thinking, what makes us humans
government began requiring French
unique? And what will enable us to continue companies on Jan. 1 to guarantee their
to create social and economic value? The
employees a “right to disconnect” from
answer, said Seidman, is the one thing
technology — when they are not at work
machines will never have: “a heart.”
— trying to combat the “always on” work
“It will be all the things that the heart
culture.
can do,” he explained. “Humans can love,
Leaders, businesses and communities will
they can have compassion, they can dream.
still leverage technology to gain advantage,
While humans can act from fear and anger,
but those that put human connection at the
and be harmful, at their most elevated, they
center of everything they do — and how
can inspire and be virtuous. And while
they do it — will be the enduring winners,
machines can reliably interoperate, humans, insisted Seidman: “Machines can be
uniquely, can build deep relationships of
programmed to do the next thing right. But
trust.”
only humans can do the next right thing.”
Therefore, Seidman added, our highest
■
self-conception needs to be redefined from
Thomas L. Friedman became the New
“I think, therefore I am” to “I care, therefore York Times’ foreign affairs columnist in
I am; I hope, therefore I am; I imagine,
1995 and has been awarded three Pulitzer
therefore I am. I am ethical, therefore I am.
prizes.
If machines can
compete with
people in thinking,
what makes us
humans unique?