In my latest Guardian Column If one thing gives me hope for the future, it’s the cause of internet freedom, I talk about the myth that technology activists are "techno-determinists" — we fight not because we know we'll win, but because we believe there's a possibility that we might not lose.
The only reason to be a technology activist is if you don’t believe in determinism. An activist is someone who thinks that the future is up for grabs, and that what we do today can make tomorrow better. An activist is someone who thinks that without action, things will be worse. Activism is a synonym of indeterminacy, a belief that the future changes because people change it.
It’s true: technology activists view the world through the lens of technology. If the “sharing economy” has become a front for exploitative labour practices, tech activists might propose a collective bargaining app, a crowdsourced lobbying campaign, a networked co-op for workers whose cream is being skimmed by venture-backed corporations. These activities are technological, but they attack the problem as a market problem, a legal problem and a normative problem.
This isn’t “solutionism” – it’s activism. Technology makes it cheaper to try stuff than ever before. Activists can coordinate with one another and test a lot of tactics out to see how they work. When networked computers become a problem, we need to fix the problem – and it’s natural to start with the networked computers that are causing the problem. Not because everything looks like a nail to a person with a hammer – because you can’t solve a problem by ignoring its source.
Geeks can be wrong. Very wrong. I am often wrong. But technology will change the world in profound ways. It’s urgent that we get that change right, or things will go very wrong indeed. Those are two things that geeks have been right about all along.
If one thing gives me hope for the future, it’s the cause of internet freedom [The Guardian]
(Image: HOPE, Diesel Demon, CC-BY)
