I have come to hate the term "techno-optimism," because it has been used to brand extreme techno-utopianism, but it's too powerful a concept to cede to the bros. Technology has made life better across history, but it's done so largely due to the kind of thoughtful implementation they want eliminated - ThreadSky

niedermeyer.online • 11 days ago

I have come to hate the term "techno-optimism," because it has been used to brand extreme techno-utopianism, but it's too powerful a concept to cede to the bros. Technology has made life better across history, but it's done so largely due to the kind of thoughtful implementation they want eliminated

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niedermeyer.online•11 days ago

There's a critical divide between "new technology challenges us to find implementations that actually make things better" and "new technology is inherently good," and I think working that divide is a really important project for political ideology and rhetoric.

alexm920.bsky.social•11 days ago

Well put. I realized that I’d been vaguely optimistic about tech for decades, but the parade of mega-hyped innovations that feel like scams with extra steps (crypto, NFTs, AI) has me feeling like Luddite. It’s important to remember useful tech is still being developed, just much more quietly.

alexm920.bsky.social•11 days ago

It does seems there needs to be at least one “new big technology that will change everything”, how else would the worst people vacuum up all the capital and pull the oxygen out of every room they step into? Legit just a roster of topics I’m praying a new acquaintance doesn’t fixate on.

cluftnyc.bsky.social•11 days ago

One of my theories on this is that they (tech oligarchs and disciples) have separated so far from the life sciences and 3-D reality that they have lost, or never had, a sense of basic human needs and processes. Thus their proposals are inevitably untenable and anti-humane.

outerleftfield.net•11 days ago

This is an important topic to address! Tech bro’s are jumping on tech that is often the most regressive, while systematically undermining some of the most important new technologies like MRNA vaccines. Our civilizations existence hinges on powerful technologies working in harmony with nature.

mcdonalds.help•11 days ago

right, tech bro culture gives the appearance of being pro-science but it's more like the software world asserting dominance over all other technology, which makes it actually extremely scientifically and technologically regressive and masks the degree to which the US is *not* adopting new tech

newadrian.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is important - pouring capital into cryptocurrency scams and dubious LLM based systems rather than high speed rail and offshore wind for example.

dustinn.bsky.social•11 days ago

This is the part that drives me the craziest about techno-utopian visions is the refusal to engage with the political aspects. Even in a delusional GAI future, it's only good if we have the political will to implement universal income. The political innovation is just as important as the tech.

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