Don’t fear technology, own it.
I saw this photo three minutes after it was posted on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page and I knew it would not take long before it became that week’s click-bait champion. I could already picture the headlines: “Silicon Valley’s next big thing: the end of reality” or “Virtual reality: welcome in the Matrix”.
Once again, mainstream media, under the pretense of “exposing” the terrifying future the Silicon Valley is designing for humanity, would fiercely nurture the global paranoia towards new technologies.
The next day, the picture was all over the Internet, analyzed in countless articles. What struck me when I read the comments was how easily people associate robots with Terminator, artificial intelligence with Skynet and virtual reality with Matrix.
Most of us love technology but at the same time deeply fear it, and we need to change that.
Around 1900, societal changes introduced by the first Industrial Revolution led some writers to express society’s worries with novels, starting a fictional genre that is still topical today: dystopia.
We all know at least one book, movie or series that portrays the fearsome future that technological progress will bring upon mankind. And now, for every new innovation we summon: “1984”, “Matrix”, “Brave New World” or any other dystopia we can recall. These kinds of responses are not the result of an ability to envision the future. They are shortcuts taken by most people because dystopias are the only references to the future they have.
These cultural references cannot be dismissed, and I firmly believe that fiction can be a great source of inspiration for real life. Unveiling the potentially pernicious uses of technology forces us to contemplate our future?—?and technically, it should prevent us from making those mistakes.
However, the continuous outpouring of cultural products and media stories covering the subject has been highly pessimistic for decades now, and it has shaped the global position on new technologies.
Today, with an increasing number of devices and services no longer limited to factories or basic home appliances, but actively playing a part in everybody’s life (our phones are always with us, from bedroom to bathroom), each individual has reason enough to become more aware, legitimately concerned but also greatly worried about new technologies. This is why now more than ever is the time to be focusing on the benefits it can have in our lives. Now is the time to write books, articles and scenarios about a good future, that will counterbalance the dystopia mania and start spreading optimism.
We are talking about things (objects, infrastructures…) that will, for the next decades, deeply shape our lives and the way we behave and interact with our environment. The “fear sells” argument is no longer valid. In a highly pessimistic society, people are eager to hear positive things about the world they or their children will inhabit tomorrow.
So instead of ranting about “Zuck” walking in a crowd of #zombies #wearinghelmets, the mainstream media should have taken this opportunity to explain what virtual reality is and its incredible potential that goes far beyond video games: like how it will benefit medicine and help saving lives (surgeons and psychologists are already using it), or the huge impact it will have on education by making it possible for an entire class to travel to the other end of the planet, to go under water or into space, without leaving the classroom.
We need to stop acting as tech-victims/tech-slaves; technology is and has always been a tool. As users, we need to be more aware of our power. We need to take control of those devices in our pockets, on our wrists. We need to take control of the cars we won’t be driving tomorrow, the smart homes we will be living in. Technology is ours; we use it, and not the reverse.
Let’s put terror aside and try to work towards reaching utopia.
Original article posted on Medium.
If you like what you just read please go to the original and hit the green “Recommend” button so that others can discover this small piece. Please do not hesitate to comment and share your thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter.