Fervent, overly determined techno-optimism has much in common with the ideation of conspiracy theories relating to advanced technologies. In fact, advocates of techno-optimist futures, and the proponents of conspiracy theories such as the supposed causal relationship between 5G and COVID-19, share common cognitive, dispositional and contextual characteristics.
Tag Archives: Technology
Beyond tech philes and phobes
Making AI regenerative is going to require that we are not prompt engineers but devious bricoleurs, in the sense intended by Claude Lévi-Strauss, working with our hands on this tool and recombining it with others to do things it was never intended for. For good. For fairness. For community. For real wealth. For the environment.
Before wage work
Regular full-time employment at a single job may seem like the natural way of things, but it is, in fact, a fairly recent phenomenon. For hundreds of years before 1800, work took multiple forms and had varied meanings, motivations and outcomes. Making money was just a part of it, and often not a very important part.
Techno-optimism, perverted histories and stolen futures
AI has been ‘leveraged’ since 2014 to ‘transform’ the oil and gas industry, by enabling exploitation of previously hard-to-access reserves of fossil fuels, in full awareness of the irreparable damage done as a result. Techno-optimism is not merely naïve. Future histories of ‘transformation’ are often part of a political project to protect and advance the rights and interests of extractive capitalism while destroying cultures, societies and the environment without a care.
Week notes: 3 July 2023
This week I began my research into individuals and teams who are able to 1) learn about new techs quickly while 2) discerning the impacts and applications in their domains while 3) starting to implement. How do they learn, select and adapt so quickly and effectively, while others do not? If you’re reading this and you are (or you know) someone or some team or startup that is learning, adopting and adapting new techs exceptionally fast, I’d love to talk.
Matthew Moran 