Do Not Fear Progress and Technology; Fear Capitalism
‘Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.’
— Stephen Hawking
The belief that technological advances will save us was once a cornerstone of public debate. Poverty, hunger, disease, and, later, climate change were thought to be powerless in the face of human curiosity and ingenuity. After all, technological advancements have enabled the Western world to live in unprecedented abundance and luxury (the Global South and its merciless exploitation are a different story altogether, of course).
As our lives grew longer and longer, our caloric intake ever increasing; and as our cities conquered the world and every last corner of this planet, leaving no ecosystem unaffected; as we defeated countless diseases and made constant progress toward eliminating others, one came to wonder: where will it all end?
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