The other side of technology

Miquel Barceló graduated as an Aeronautical Engineer. Once he got his degree, he moved to Italy where he pursued his postgraduate studies. Missing home, he came back to Spain. After working a few years in a company he decided to come back to University in 1977. He started working part-time at the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB) teaching subjects related to Software Engineering, issues that are very close to the business world. In 1989 he decided to work as a full time professor at UPC.

To become a full time professor he needed a Spanish PhD, so he decided to do a second Thesis, this time about a very particular point of view on computing. His second PhD was about the future vision of computing through Science Fiction and his PhD advisor was Dr. Antoni Olivé.

At the University he has been Vice-Dean of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB), he has promoted the introduction of new optional subjects and has worked on the introduction of a new PhD and Master about Sustainability, Technology and Humanism.

Presently he teaches several courses, among them Social and Environmental Aspects of Computing. He goes on with the project of educating new doctors on sustainability, humanism and technology. He is the head of the STH research group at the Software Department (LSI) at UPC and he is Vice-rector for Sustainable Development at the UPC.

His collaborations in the media  (written press, radio and TV) are becoming very popular.  He also has written some short stories and has co-authored a couple of science fiction novels.

Dr. Barceló talks about how to look at technology from a humanistic point of view and he explained to us the difference between a philosopher and a technologist. "It is true that philosophers have a very important role in our society and they are the ones who can change the way we see the world; however technologists are the ones that are able to change the way we live in the world. Therefore, their responsibility is huge"- says Professor Barceló.

When he started working, he saw how a computer program could reduce the staff of a company by an enormous 75%. Feeling responsible for this change made him realize how important computers were. "Our activity as engineers touches the world and people; therefore, we should be educated in these aspects, too-" says Barceló.

If we look at university education abroad, we will see that the history of a given body of knowledge, the professional ethics of the corresponding practices ...etc. constitute an important part of any academic curriculum. Spain took a bit longer to realise the necessity of it. However, nowadays the UPC is very concerned about the necessity of having a sustainability and professional ethic policy. Introducing these subjects in the curriculum was a delicate tas, however. On one hand, you had to be careful when you introduced some of the concepts and methodologies we routinely work with because the audience might not have a humanistic background. On the other hand, we cannot forget that the UPC is a technical university; therefore these subjects must have a technical structure.

Dr. Barceló equates this field to a branch of technology as any other else. Therefore, he thinks, they have the same importance as other subjects of the curriculum traditionally thought to be "core knowledge". For him, it is crucial to have the same level of education in these subjects as in the other ones. He remarks how the need for educating doctors on sustainability, technology and humanism was becoming evident about the mid-nineties.

A PhD related to these issues was created ten years ago, with the support of six UPC departments and with the collaboration of the UPC's UNESCO chair on Sustainability. There is also a Master program which is starting now. This success has been possible thanks to the effort of four UPC centres coordinated by Dr. Barceló.

Miquel Barceló sees the process of creating a PhD thesis as a process of learning. Therefore, developing thesis related to these issues, he opened new research lines that will stimulate changes in the actual socio-economic system.

Some PhD students, like Marc Alier or Maria José Casany study e-learning tools and they work in education for a sustainable society. Moved by their enthusiasm and their personal interest, they are participating in Burkina Fasso, in a pilot project of the internationally known One Laptop per Children (OLTPC) project.

I Barceló's own words "Usually society falls in an old discourse based on the fear to novelty and the belief that technology is guilty of many environmental disasters. However technology can also be the solution for many of those disasters". And he follows "Nowadays Technological Innovation is the result of a given system where selfishness, greed, competition ...etc are favoured. However this is not the only possible socio-economic system and, therefore, this is not the only possible technology. Science Fiction is a good tool to study different social models. You can find countless possible societies in Science Fiction novels and films, many of them are structured in a very different way from ours. If they are possible in our imagination, they can be possible in reality,  so they can be created and studied".


Dr. Barceló's main goal is to make the terms "sustainability" and "professional ethics" usual business at the UPC, reaching the point when there is no need to have a Vice-rector for sustainability. He says: "Nobody considers the possibility of having a Vice-rector for Mathematics because everybody knows that this is an essential issue in a Technical University; sustainability should reach the same level".

He would love that his discipline were considered in the same way as the other ones and that, when the professionals in this field were evaluated, it would be done with realistic criteria.

On the other hand, Miquel Barceló is also trying to create a Research Institute on Science and Technologies for Sustainability. He would like to say goodbye to University having contributed to build a strong core and a sustainable and ethic policy interiorised at all levels in the whole UPC.

ilapuente@lsi.upc.edu