Technology is such a useful and wonderful thing when used for benevolent purposes. It facilitates everything we take for granted because of its ubiquitousness. To efficient LEDs from torches, to electric vehicles from carriages, to the internet from a more fragmented world.
I'm yet aware of the perils that technology can present. Military conquest has often been the driver of technological innovations, and it's obvious these innovations went to causing more suffering and not directly alleviating it. The internet is used to allow for connections that may have been impossible due to distance and yet many whistleblowers have revealed that several countries spy on internet activities in various forms.
Five Eyes, PRISM, ECHELON to name a few of the programs that have intercepted normal citizens communication.
Our world is more interconnected than ever and the basis of a lot of these connections are the devices, systems, and privacy policies we often fall victim to.
What happens if the devices we use take more and more of our privacy, freedom and peace of mind away from us rather than making our lives better- as technology should.
A Double-Edged Sword
Our world is filled with so many endless distractions and timesinks that maybe we lose sight of the fact it doesn't have to be like this.
As the people who can decide who to vote for, what to buy, and what causes to support there is some responsibility on us to use well-vetted and open source technologies that don't misuse our trust, and to expect better of the corporations and institutions we end up doing business with.
It falls on us to encourage lawmakers to prohibit the eroding of our privacy and freedom through better regulation on company policies, especially concerning the handling of user data. As the user it's up to us to make better choices.
Our fun in some distraction isn't worth making a less ideal world for us and other generations. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to ruin the fun, however these are strange times that put our freedoms at risk.
Each of us can play a vital role in a better tomorrow.
Technology and progress in general is a ceaseless course across the arrow of time.
Tomorrow Belongs to Us
The world is so connected. We can get shows subtitled and streamed mere hours after release, order near anything from an app, and talk to loved ones in an instant. However the potential for technology to negatively impact our lives is ever present.
If you're an innocent person you shouldn't have to be spied on. The infrastructure to monitor communications is in place, and if not in place can be put in place. Spying on ordinary citizens is immoral and if not an activity that is misused today, it can be by any rogue politician or bad actor in the system in the future.We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. - Douglas Adams
Technology has played a role in many friendships persisting after moving or just being located elsewhere to begin with. Technology has also facilitated some conduct which erodes our very rights. What our tech looks like and in what ways it has an effect on us depends largely on us. We can each support and build tech that actually makes the world and our place in it a more comfortable and efficient place to live. The other part that will shape the technologies over the horizon and beyond is definitely an effective and honest effort from governments to regulate the technologies (and whatever else) that can be of risk to us. What path towards progress we take depends on our choices today, and tomorrow.