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This is a much-needed reality check for those of us who work on technology. What we imagine: if we keep digging the tunnel, we'll get to the post-scarcity worl

This is a much-needed reality check for those of us who work on technology. What we imagine: if we keep digging the tunnel, we'll get to the post-scarcity world on the other side. What actually happens: Uber and Clinkle. Drone warfare. Time-tracking software originally intended for self-employed consultants to install on their own machines, to monitor themselves, being used to torment corporate serfs and aid in layoffs. "Story point" tracking systems. Services that help HR departments of banks and technology companies collude on compensation and make illegal inquiries (back channel references, aka discrimination) about employees. Evil tech, in other words. Not even Microsoft "evil" but actual evil evil. We have this idealistic but delusional belief that just by working very hard we can, collectively, obsolete the overlords and criminals who (for the most part) are the ones who pay us. It rarely works out that way. Whether technology is ultimately to the power of good versus evil may be the core question answered by the coming major conflicts of the 21st century.

djokkataja 12y ago
Agreed, until we become actively involved in the economic and political decision-making that drives our planet, we can't seriously expect technological change to create a better future.
base698 12y ago
If you haven't read it, Technopoly is really great. It outlines some of the unintended consequences of what you mention. Technology has an effect of changing how you see the world. In ancient times of oral history everything was a song. After the printing press everything a list. When the clock comes around, time becomes a resource and pressure to produce increases. http://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-The-Surrender-Culture-Technology/dp/0679745408 http://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-The-Surrender-Culture-Techn...
dredmorbius 12y ago
Quite. Postman's a good reference. Another I'd run across recently are Michael & Joyce Heusemann, authors of Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment The book addresses three questions: 1. Can technology solve major environmental and social problems? What are the limitations of tech? 2. Why do most people believe in technological progress and uncritically accept any technology? 3. Are there simple and effective low-tech solutions, and what can we do? In particular, one point he makes very clearly is that technology is not value-neutral. It is value laden. If you adopt a technology, you also adopt the values (overt or otherwise) inherent in it. As with Postman, the Heusemanns discuss the example of the automobile. Another good reference is What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. There's also the case of the Paperclip Maximizer (or the Robot Butler), discussed in this reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/25cnbr/science_ama_series_we_are_researchers_at_the/chiyvz3?context=4 http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/25cnbr/science_ama_... http://redd.it/21pc8c http://redd.it/21pc8c

djokkataja 12y ago

Agreed, until we become actively involved in the economic and political decision-making that drives our planet, we can't seriously expect technological change to create a better future.

base698 12y ago

If you haven't read it, Technopoly is really great. It outlines some of the unintended consequences of what you mention. Technology has an effect of changing how you see the world. In ancient times of oral history everything was a song. After the printing press everything a list. When the clock comes around, time becomes a resource and pressure to produce increases. http://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-The-Surrender-Culture-Technology/dp/0679745408 http://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-The-Surrender-Culture-Techn...

dredmorbius 12y ago

Quite. Postman's a good reference. Another I'd run across recently are Michael & Joyce Heusemann, authors of Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment The book addresses three questions: 1. Can technology solve major environmental and social problems? What are the limitations of tech? 2. Why do most people believe in technological progress and uncritically accept any technology? 3. Are there simple and effective low-tech solutions, and what can we do? In particular, one point he makes very clearly is that technology is not value-neutral. It is value laden. If you adopt a technology, you also adopt the values (overt or otherwise) inherent in it. As with Postman, the Heusemanns discuss the example of the automobile. Another good reference is What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. There's also the case of the Paperclip Maximizer (or the Robot Butler), discussed in this reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/25cnbr/science_ama_series_we_are_researchers_at_the/chiyvz3?context=4 http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/25cnbr/science_ama_... http://redd.it/21pc8c http://redd.it/21pc8c