Our love affair with tech
Around 3.3 million years ago a tribe of unknown hominids in Kenya’s Rift Valley decided to smash some rocks together and create the world’s first stone axe. This was the first time humans indicated they were capable of invention. What those apes did not realise was that this primitive tool would change the course of the planet forever. Humans would continue to innovate that axe and invent new technologies to remove obstacles and master the world around them. Our love affair with technology began.
However, the ability to remove obstacles came with a distinct choice in how we use technology. The axe had dual purposes. On the one hand, it could help the tribe hunt more efficiently and reduce hardship. On the other hand, it could be used to conquer and create misery. This choice has defined invention and innovation from the discovery of fire to nuclear energy. Technology could positively or negatively impact our species.
These negative choices are currently reverberating around society. Take something like tech addiction. It is estimated that the average Australian spends 9 hours and 40 minutes in front of a light-emitting device.[1]That is more than the average person sleeps (7 hours and 40 mins). Swiping through humorous Tik Tok videos of dogs and life hacks does not sound that bad until you realise social media use is correlated with mental health issues like depression.[2] Technology today has also been linked to job loss, radicalisation, disruption of political systems and has reshaped our societies in ways previously unimagined. Wasn’t the point of technology to solve problems?
One of the reasons why these issues are not currently addressed is that an ethical lens is rarely applied to our technology. The popular zeitgeist often associates ethics with ancient philosophy or clichés like greenwashing. Ethics and tech get left to the realm of science fiction. However, we have reached a point where fiction has become science. We need to seriously consider how our innovation will affect the future of our species.
At Transitus, our mission is simple. We want to draw attention to those ethical tech issues shaping our society, whether it is something as big as the simulation theory or as little as a line of code. The greater the awareness, the more chance there is to create tech that works for us. Our objective is to draw tangible solutions and highlight companies that are using tech to better humanity. To understand why technology has become abrasive to our society, we need to rationalise our addiction to innovation.
Understanding the choice
If there is a choice in how we use technology, why do we often choose the worst outcome for our species? There are three possible reasons. The first problem is a human one. The Black Mirror miniseries (a must-watch for those interested) is an allegory for the concept that humans project their emotions onto their technology. Tech can either reflect our best or worst qualities. For example, a person could stream a touching moment like a soldier returning home from deployment. They could also stream themselves conducting a massacre like what happened in New Zealand in 2019. Each event used the same tech but reflected very different aspects of the human psyche.
The second issue comes from a design perspective. Most technologies are designed to extract value. This was as true in the industrial revolution as it is today. In the digital age, companies use specific techniques such as big data to extract this value more efficiently. The problem with this strategy is that these design methods often create unintended (or question perhaps intended) consequences. For example, social media has connected communities but also provided a space for radicalisation such as what we are seeing with the anti-vaccine movement. These factors combined set a dangerous precedent for how technology will impact our lives.
Finally, the speed of innovation has also intensified this choice over the last 150 years as society has undergone several industrial revolutions. Factors such as computerisation, globalisation and automation have created a nexus of growth that have propelled human living standards. However, the rate of change has not allowed society adequate time to consider the consequences of innovation. This rate of change is why there are so many unintended issues with technology because companies must compete at such a rapid pace in a hyper-connected world.
Solving the ethical tech crisis — Our Mission
To understand how to solve these fundamental problems, we need to create a new paradigm in how we think about technology. In Latin, Transitus refers to the Christian understanding of when we transition from earth to the afterlife. Humanity is currently facing its own transitus when it comes to technology. Technology could create a new nirvana or it could take us deep into Dante’s Inferno. This newsletter has taken the name Transitus because we believe it is time to transition us to an ethical tech framework.
Part of the key to solving this issue will be education. We cannot expect to make the correct choice if we do not understand the technology we use. Transitus will explore ethical tech issues ranging from E-Sports to cyber security. We are not technical experts ourselves, but we want you to come on this journey as we learn more about the fundamentals. We are also hypocrites. We love a scroll as much as everyone else and we don’t blame you or the companies for the state of technology. All we want is tech that works for us not against us.
At the end of the day, the choice is ours. We have an invention more important than the stone axe in our pocket. What we do with our tools in the next decades could define the future of our species. Hopefully, Transitus can play one tiny part in helping you make your transition to an ethical tech future.
[1] https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2017/04/19/australians-screen-sleep-blue-light/