What does technology mean to you?
"To me, technology means access, opportunity, and power."
–Joshua W.
We challenge new members with a series of provocations about technology and society. Here's what they have to say.
"To me, technology means access, opportunity, and power."
–Joshua W.
"At its best, technology means expanded possibility and agency for everyone, not just those who already have power and resources."
–Jessica C.
"an extension of my human body that enables action or activity that my human body on its own cannot enact."
–Susan B.
"I have a complicated relationship with technology. My Dad invented one of the first personal computers, so I grew up having the latest and greatest technological innovations at the time. I was inseparable from my Sony Walkman, as music is and always has been my safe place. My grandmother said I'd lose my hearing by the time I was 20 because I listened to music too loud on my headphones, and she was partially correct. But that was the 1990s and I was a kid. As an adult in the 2020s, I'm constantly bombarded with screens and notifications. I find myself longing for a time when screen culture and smartphones were nothing more than a Philip K. Dick novel. I've tried to make changes in my own life (using a typewriter, drawing on paper instead of my ipad, taking photos with a film camera, reading the *newspaper* again, listening to vinyl) and I love that, but I do feel cautious about the societal implications of our "modern world.""
–Lori C.
"It's whatever tools humans develop through their ingenuity. Although, these days when I hear the word technology, it evokes mostly gadgets, computers and the internet, as that's the stuff that creates most controversies and is most invasive in our public and private lives."
–Aleksandra M.
"Tools that help humans live more fulfilling, interconnected lives."
–Liz S.
"So many things ... ultimately it feels like fire. It can be used to destroy a house or cook a meal. It's transformative, but all in how you wield it responsibly."
–Jennifer B.
"Unfortunately, I have mostly negative connotations when the word technology comes across my path. Overall, while technology has had positive impacts, I'm sad to report that I feel there have been more negative impacts. If we used the Precautionary Principle to roll out, say, the internet at large, we might have thought through some more checks and balances and considered a future state that would undoubtedly be used for bad. I like the wheel, though...an early tech advancement. :)"
–Darby S.
"It's a facilitator of creation, of connections to others, it's an assistance, a form of expression"
–Bálint M.
"For me, technology is the ways we do things as humans - communicate, build, govern, survive."
–Jocelyn M.
"The fine balance between convenience enabling connection and that same convenience masquerading as community. Knowing when the slow dopamine drip of a poke, like, or repost has in fact replaced the humanin interaction critical and intrinsic to building a better life."
–Fin
"connection, but also loss of individuality and privacy."
–Lela M.
"Technology means something that is supposed to create ease or acceleration of ____ for people. It can be used for good or bad. It often is addicting, even if "good.""
–Lauren T.
"Opening possibilities.
Opening open possibilities."
–David W.
"technologies are things that help us extend our wills, abilities and priorities beyond what we'd be able to do originally or alone; they can be deeply enabling or incredibly alienating, and misunderstanding them leads to so much harm."
–Ryan H.
"Extending our capabilities - for good or ill."
–Tim D.
"Adaptability and connection but also strain on our collective resources"
–Kristina L.
"Technology provides the gateways to innovation, resources, and quality of life. It can improve how we learn, receive healthcare, communicate, etc."
–Joshua W.
"I'm interested in technology that actually brings people together (not the false connections of social media). I'm interested in technology for creative innovation, as a tool and an inspiration (not as a replacement for human workers)."
–Mark R.
"It's been the same for me since Web 1.0: its capacity to serve as a powerful tool for human creativity and connection."
–Jessica C.
"the ability to connect, accellerate, offload and create space"
–Susan B.
"Technology, like many human inventions and discoveries, only reflects ourselves back to us. That is, whatever our values are as a culture will be magnified by tech. Thus, if we rely on the better angels of our nature, remember our goodness, and wish others well, technology will follow that. If we are greedy and devalue one another, technology will follow that too. I believe in human goodness, though, and thus the idea that innovations in communication and coalition-building is quite exciting."
–Lori C.
"That it could help people with tasks that are mundane, it could make work more efficient so that we can spend more time on things that matter, like our relationships and caring for the planet."
–Aleksandra M.
"The way it can lead to people meeting up in person to exchange ideas."
–Liz S.
"I keep waiting for it to enable us to work less instead of just be expected to do more all the time. But the ability for it to connect people and solve shared problems across time and space is still motivating for me."
–Jennifer B.
"How we can leverage it for mutual aid, social impact, and to combat the use of it for bad via the technocrats vision of our collective future. I also appreciate being able to communicate at scale and to remain in touch with loved ones."
–Darby S.
"The accessibility, ease, and velocity of dreaming up something and then seeing it manifest"
–Bálint M.
"I get excited about the ways technology can enhance and amplify the very best of humanity - our ability to connect, to care for one another, to dream."
–Jocelyn M.
"The intersection of analog and digital and built in affordances that allow disconnecting and reconnecting consciously. Also, books are still pretty great tech."
–Fin
"more access, improvements in healthcare solutions"
–Lela M.
"The under-used capacity for tech to help accelerate people's happiness."
–Lauren T.
"Enabling thriving more equitably, and affecting what constitutes thriving."
–David W.
"I'm excited most about technologies that alleviate suffering, help build community and solve problems in ways that require less pain and resources"
–Ryan H.
"The possibility of circular and sustainable technologies: building our capacity to act in community with both others within planetary limits."
–Tim D.
"Possibilities for collective power and care"
–Kristina L.
"What scares me about technology is its potential to create a digital divide for those without access to it. Technology is such a powerful tool. However, without access to the tool, many people lack the opportunities technology offers, leaving them behind in a technologically driven world."
–Joshua W.
"I hope our future robot overlords have empathy toward the first living creatures on earth, that they solve the crises in climate and government without intentionally killing too many billions of us."
–Mark R.
"Right now: the extraction of public resources and the enclosure of public knowledge."
–Jessica C.
"my wilful blindness to my impact on it and it on me and our collective potential"
–Susan B.
"So much! Primarily two categories, though: that as we continue to submerge ourselves into the isolation and flatness of screen culture, we will become a more lonely society that does not seek real experiences, and as a result, we live in a tragic little echo chamber, never challenged and never truly connected.
The second thing that there has been such an incongruent emphasis placed on tech that as a result the arts have been culturally devalued. This is best exemplified by AI. A technology that is killing the planet is also being used to kill the arts. It was already hard enough to be an artist in this century (thanks to both an economy that makes living on art impossible and also political decisions that have impacted how the arts are funded). We were already barely surviving. Then the Tech Gods came and decided robots could write and make films for us. My heart is broken. But I'm not giving up on the arts, as if I could, and I'm not giving up on humanity, as if I should."
–Lori C.
"That it divides us and is so addictive and ubiquitous. That it normalizes violence. That it is so difficult to regulate tech giants. That it is not employed for the common good."
–Aleksandra M.
"The way it can isolate us from one another and limit our participation in real daily life."
–Liz S.
"The incentive structures and personalities driving the current scaled platforms and the damage they're able to do (and have done)."
–Jennifer B.
"Silicon Valley billionaires (Yarvin as their philosophical guide) using technology exactly as they say they will, all in the name of freedom. Ha! And also, that we have fewer in person, human to human interactions, which sets the stage for "othering", fear, and isolation, creating a perfect stage for fascism to take hold."
–Darby S.
"Using it to exploit people, nature"
–Bálint M.
"I'm afraid of the ways technology can enhance and amplify the very worst of humanity - greed, individualism, callousness, scapegoating, power over, self-indulgence."
–Jocelyn M.
"We have nothing to fear but fear itself ...although complacency and acceptance of what is already on offer vs a willingness and even desire to hack together what's needed and useful"
–Fin
"its super fast pace is frightening; keeping up; how it will affect our children - will it improve or disrupt their futures?"
–Lela M.
"The ability to take a fairly innocent intention/invention and turn it into an unhinged/uncontrollable tool or "actor.""
–Lauren T.
"The overwhelming power of destructive social and economic forces that turn everything into a weapon."
–David W.
"If technologies are things that allow us to extend our wills, it scares me that technologies that have broad reach and impact are nearly entirely captured and guided by people with fascistic values and a seeming hatred of interdependence."
–Ryan H.
"The need to constantly fight against an inequality-increasing centralising logic within many technologies and within the markets that sustain them."
–Tim D.
"greater interconnection for humans and the healing of the planet"
–Kristina L.
"In the context of technology and society, I would define "collective good" as an assurance that all have access to technological opportunities, regardless of geographical location, race, gender, income, etc."
–Joshua W.
"It means developing and implementing technological systems that prioritize shared wellbeing, equitable access, and community empowerment. It means technology as commons."
–Jessica C.
"technology as an enabler of collective sensemaking without a preconception of what is good"
–Susan B.
"collective goods are things that we build to fill gaps, solve problems and enable possibilities for each other and themselves - liberating concepts, software tools, wikis with deep knowledge, opportunities for learning and skill development, and tools to document and share the worlds we're building for each other."
–Ryan H.
"We find the collective good through dialogue. It must take account of our natural as well as our social world. It is layered, dynamic and ever renegotiated."
–Tim D.
"Power in the hands of a few (white men) to determine our fates"
–Kristina L.