Technology, a catalyst for change
In 2021, technology is eating everything. It's in our pocket, small and everywhere. It's mankind's lubricant that makes our world go round. Imagine for a moment what the pandemic would have been without technology. Think about not being able to communicate with our loved ones with Zoom. We wouldn't have been able to work remotely. Technology has allowed us all of that.
We've never been so much connected on a massive global scale than today. It's a miracle when you think about it for a moment. Education and knowledge are at our doorstep. Everyone can learn anything almost for free. Knowledge has become a simple commodity. A whole new economic system is even getting traction and adoption with cryptocurrencies. The horizons allowed by the democratization of technology are nearly limitless. At least for this very niche of people living and working in or with Tech.
However, this seems too much of a happy picture to depict. Where Tech could have made us wiser, it seems to eventually have torn us apart. Where Tech would have supposedly made people more connected, it finally turned us even more selfish or egocentric. Biases, inequalities, narrow-mindedness, judgments, and disconnection from reality: Tech seems to have increased our inherent human flaws.
We thought technology would have diminished inequalities. It seems not as several studies attest that new technology adoption has increased inequalities. All these pain points seem to have been accelerating for quite some time. Paradoxically, where technology could have cured our society, it ended up acting like a catalyst of our flaws. It has amplified up to becoming a global disease. Big companies have used and abused technology and ultimately have intensified this phenomenon to an unbearable paroxysm.
But Tech can and should be a catalyst for change. It's about time we wake up. We have to debug and reshape technology so that it brings people together, solves the real problems of our time, and becomes a more sustainable support of common interest. We might want to co-design and co-build it again, to put all the energies in the same crucible and melt again technology down to its core. It's about time we use technology to solve real problems and help society on a larger scale.
It has derived from its potential good impact on society. And we, people in Tech, may have a greater responsibility than we think.
My dream would be to bring back Tech people together, to unify and connect them around a new purpose and a greater value for mankind.
Together, we could refactor technology with more humanist values and purpose, with the community in mind; All sealed by a global vision: Serve sustainably mankind through Technology. Taking advantage of the network to connect, to teach, to learn, and share visions.
Let us refactor Technology.