946 sats \ 0 replies \ @ratiotile 18 Nov 2023 \ on: Accelerationism, Decelerationism, and Bitcoin bitcoin
I tend to think technology generally expands the range of our capabilities rather than being good or evil in and of itself. Although not all technology is created equal in that regard.
Nuclear energy also comes with nuclear bombs.
The internet is a repository of information which can be used to advance and democratize our collective knowledge, but also to algorithmically manipulate us, spy on us, and waste our time. You can use it to give yourself a near-free better-than-college education or you can use it, like more people do, to trade in your mental health for quick dopamine hits.
"No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell."
Therefore, like the quote in @davidw's post, what should be done becomes more important than what could be done, in light of technology's increasing power to do more and more.
Regardless, I don't hold much stake in the deceleration crowd since it seems to me that what can be built, will be built, whatever regulations we may collectively put in place in one time/place now may not be honored in another time/place. It's very possible that calls for deceleration won't slow down the people we'd want it to anyway.
So I think your only real option is to determine what future you want to live in (as opposed to other competing visions), decide what you can do to implement technology in a way that supports that future, and then build it and fight for it. Otherwise, by merely asking everyone to "just stop", you're really only giving up control of how it gets built to someone else's idea of what it should be -- someone who may not listen to your call to "just stop", and who may have radically different views than you on what to build with it.