Where Will Technology Take Us?

Though I’m in the technology-does-way-more-good-than-harm camp, I agree with Annalee Newitz’s comments on the unpredictable impact of any technology over the long term. Her point even covered technologies that save lives. Like penicillin. Sure, it saved a whole lot of lives but then went on to “create problems we'd never imagined”. How? It forced bacteria to mutate to survive which in turn causes very hard to cure infections today.

As per Newitz, this is the litmus test question one should ask when hearing the predicted impact of any technology:

“Does the narrative promise you things that sound like religion?”

In other words, do the predictions promise some kind of Utopia? If the answer is Yes, then we should be wary.

On the other hand, this kind of predicted impact of any technology is likely to be closer to the truth:

“… if that narrative deals with consequences, complications, and many possible outcomes, then you're getting closer to something like a potential truth.”

Bottom-line: the future is hard (if not impossible) to predict. Even the best of technologies can lead to unexpected consequences down the road. Yuri Orlov (in the movie, “Lord of War”) seemed to know that when he said:

“There are two types of tragedies in life. One is not getting what you want, the other is getting it.”

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