Why taking the time to understand technology helps us understand the world
After spending more than three decades researching, writing about, and teaching people of all ages, educational levels and experience about technology, I am still frustrated at the widespread inability to understand how it impacts our lives .
The vast majority of skepticism and resistance to technological development comes from people who, in part due to the malpractice of Big Tech, don’t understand the rules that govern its relationship with the markets, rules that, if properly understood, would make it much easier to take advantage of the benefits that technology can generate for individuals, business and society.
For example, if we look at most of the “problems” that many people cite in relation to the technologies associated with decarbonization, which are absolutely fundamental for tackling humanity’s greatest problem, the climate emergency, what do we find? Basically, misinformation.
Take EVs: a lot of potential consumers believe that their manufacture creates huge amounts of pollution, something that has been proven on countless occasions to be wrong. Similarly, they cite batteries as a weak point: too expensive, extremely dangerous, impossible to recycle, ultra-polluting, and that we lack the raw materials to manufacture them. Instead, the reality is not only…
