Our relationship with technology: a conversation with Diego Hidalgo
IE Insights offered me the opportunity to record a lengthy interview at the IE Tower in Madrid with Diego Hidalgo, a tech entrepreneur, founder of Amovens and the author of the recently published “Anestesiados: la humanidad bajo el imperio de la tecnología” (“Anesthetized: humanity under the empire of technology”, also published in French). We talked about many of the themes the book explores, such as the impact of technological innovation and the need for regulation, as well as about how we can include education into our relationship with technology.
I have a number of important differences with Diego about technology subject, but fewer regarding its impact. I disagree about how we approach the challenges technology poses: I have always been a techno-optimist, somebody who accepts that while innovation can and will generate problems, these are nothing simply issues that need to be adjusted over time, a work in progress that is worth doing as part of the process of technological development. I accept that after an adoption phase, actors emerge who learn to capitalize on technology and abuse their position to establish dominance or even to manipulate its users in some way; this is normal and natural, and I see it as something that must be corrected in the best possible way, but which under no circumstances should we give up on.
