Lecture, Keynote
Should we be worried about technology?
- The modern public relationship with technology is characterized as a "love-hate" dynamic, where utility is taken for granted until failure, a trend amplified by the pandemic which elevated daily digital media consumption in the US by over one hour (from 6 hours 49 minutes pre-pandemic to over 7 hours 49 minutes in 2020).
- Historical technological optimism has repeatedly turned to pessimism due to unforeseen consequences, evidenced by the 2010-2011 Arab Spring where social media facilitated both democratization and the spread of ISIS extremism, fake news, and vaccine misinformation.
- The Victorian-era Luddite movement, often mischaracterized as anti-technology, specifically protested the shifting balance of power between capital owners and workers; while the movement was crushed by military force (with more British soldiers deployed against them than against Napoleon), the Industrial Revolution eventually generated net benefits, including a nearly 50% rise in British life expectancy (from 34 to 50 years) between 1760 and 1901.
- 1890s predictions regarding the automobile suggested it would eliminate horse waste, reduce congestion, lower accident rates, and silence cities; these expectations proved false as the technology replaced manure with carbon dioxide, maintained congestion, and introduced new noise and accident risks.
- Global sentiment swung from 1970s techno-pessimism (driven by fears of oil shortages, overpopulation, and nuclear annihilation) to 1990s utopianism, where figures at MIT predicted the internet would abolish nationalism and the dot-com boom was believed to eradicate poverty.
- The current era is defined by a backlash termed the "tech lash," which the speaker argues is a constructive necessity for debating risks, provided it does not devolve into total rejection of technological solutions.
- The "inconvenient truth" presented is that addressing technology-induced problems often requires further technological innovation, specifically citing solar panels, electric vehicles, and geoengineering as required responses to the climate crisis.
- Technology lacks inherent agency; the speaker asserts that outcomes depend on human application, comparing advanced tools to hammers which can be used to build or destroy.
- Regulation is identified as lagging behind the speed of innovation, prompting a proposed "sandbox approach" where regulators monitor experimental technologies in real-time, reserving the right to halt operations if negative consequences arise.
- Forward-looking strategy suggests that recognizing the historical pendulum swing between optimism and pessimism is essential to avoid overcorrecting, advocating for a measured, adventurous approach to innovation that acknowledges human agency in controlling technological impact.