The Media Is Beginning To Think Tech Is Evil. Here’s Why It’s Wrong.
There’s something important we need to remind ourselves about Tech
Technology is beginning to get a bad reputation.
Donald Trump thinks he won the election due to Twitter, only recently, one of Uber’s self-driving cars crashed into a woman on a motorway, and Facebook is being questioned by the government due to a leak that exposed the personal data of 87 million people.
A report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation found that media coverage of technology in the 1980s and early 1990s was “largely favourable.” That tone has “gradually shifted over the years,” becoming more negative.
Where technology used to be source of wonder and excitement for the future, it is now quickly becoming dangerous and powerful in the eyes of the public.
But technology itself is a tool, it’s the way it is used that is good or bad.
On the morality of Tech
The formal definition of technology is
The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry
Whereas today, we think of technology as something pertaining to computers, technology is really just science put to purpose, and this purpose is what defines the morality of it.
Technology is really just science put to purpose.
Nuclear energy has been used to make bombs, but also to provide energy to millions of people.
Facebook might have helped the Arab Spring, but also might have been the reason Trump was elected.
The internet could be driving us into thought bubbles, but it has also given hundreds of millions of people access to information they won’t have gotten otherwise.
Technology itself is a tool, it’s the way it is used that is good or bad.
A key takeaway
I think in these tumultuous times, as the media is slowly beginning to portray tech as evil, it would help to remember that just because it can harm, doesn’t mean that it cannot help.
For example, Zipline is a drone delivery startup that delivers blood to people in remote areas who wouldn’t have had access to it otherwise.
Tesla is trying to revolutionise the automobile industry and has already changed the industry
Companies like HQ trivia are changing the face of entertainment without selling all our data (I hope)
Technology itself is a tool, it’s the way it is used that is good or bad.
So if you are having doubts about the tech industry, please understand that it isn’t something bad. When there’s good people behind it, tech can be an amazing force that changes the world for good.
Thanks for reading,
Sarvasv
p.s, are you making something in tech thats doing good in the world? Hit me up on twitter, I’d love to hear about it
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