Dystotech Inferno
A Luddite view of tech
On the need for technological de-escalation
The premise of this article is that, while technology has brought us undoubted benefits, in multiple ways it is no longer adding to the overall well-being of humanity, and in some respects, it is now actually detracting from and diminishing our lives.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not a complete Luddite. Unlike some good friends, I get vaccinated. I don’t believe the world is flat, that Bill Gates is a lizard and part of a global conspiracy aiming to get us all microchipped, that global warming is a hoax, or other such palpable nonsense for the hard of thinking, propagated by the free newspaper “The Light” and elsewhere.
I know the value of antibiotics, of my asthma medication, the quiet miracle of the contact lenses I wear. I enjoy streaming films and the wonders of the internet. I fully appreciate, entering my seventh decade (I know, ancient and scary), that in the Middle Ages, I might have only lived to 40 if I was lucky. I am not in favour of senselessly, and ungratefully biting the hand that feeds us. But……
Peak human
It is worth considering that, far from average lifespans becoming longer, healthier and happier, longevity in much of the developed world is now actually falling. We have reached peak human, and in an age of perma-crisis, it seems we may have started the slow process of decline -
https://medium.com/@johnpearce650/peak-human-476bbe2a028e
At times it seems as though science has now become our enemy, rather than our friend, that inventions are being released which are actually making our lives worse, with no control or assessment of whether they are beneficial, no democratic process for popular input over whether we want them or not. I won’t bore you with too much with the troubles of the world which are well-rehearsed and repeated ad nauseam. However to take a few of these inventions:
Forever chemicals
This is not a subject to research if you are prone to nightmares. There is a class of chemicals colloquially known as “forever chemicals”. Their proper name is persistent organic pollutants (POPS), whose POPS acronym belies their lethal potential. Their slang name of forever chemicals comes from the fact that they are virtually indestructible, and so accumulate in the natural environment. They are used in such products such as non-stick frying pans, water-repellent surfaces, some plumbing repairs, and electrical insulation. These forever chemicals defy the laws of nature, in which everything is circular, and they are carcinogenic and mutagenic. Since they are not part of life’s natural circle, they are accumulating in our bodies and in the food chain, creating a toxic stew. They are still being manufactured. I was recently horrified when an emergency plumber fixed a repair in our home, not just by the bill, but the fact he used PTFE tape (polytetrafluorethylene)– I guess it was that or lead poisoning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_organic_pollutant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene
Nuclear power
This is another technology which we would be much better off without. There are now a multitude of safe alternatives like solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, or hydroelectric power that do not leave toxic waste for thousands of years as a legacy to poison our descendants. Nuclear power is a futile, toxic cul-de-sac, and the sooner it is abandoned the better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_waste
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_nuclear_accident
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire
Fossil fuels
The role of fossil fuels of coal, gas and oil has been extensively and exhaustively covered elsewhere, so I will not reheat old diatribe for a new serving, except to say that, while fossil fuels have dragged us out of the Stone Age, with the change to our climate they are wreaking, they now threaten to put us back there. The sooner we transition to safe renewable energy the better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
Mad Car Disease
The private car is simultaneously a magic carpet for its occupants, and a curse on everyone else, the epitome of neo-liberal economics, the cult of selfishness enshrined in a metal box. If we see humans combined with a motor car as a new species, homo automobilus, this new species has greater survival potential than the pedestrian or cyclist who risks being run over or has to breathe fumes. We have been given the freedom to go anywhere, however roads, traffic and pollution destroy the natural world. Add up the time we spend stuck in queues, and the result is that we lose whole days of our lives stuck in jams. Electric cars simultaneously make the driver feel smug, while simply shifting the pollution and social costs elsewhere.
Space travel
This seems to be one of those spheres of human life where we burn the natural capital from accumulated wealth for no benefit, in a funeral pyre for lost species. Wealth is being concentrated in the greedy, grubby hands of billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, and rather than use it for the benefit of humanity, it is torched in hubristic, vanity space projects. The idea of colonising the Moon or Mars is just a fairytale fantasy, a colossal waste of resources, when there are still billions of people on Earth still lacking safe drinking water, sanitation, or enough to eat.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
With AI, it feels as though Pandora’s Box has been opened, and now we don’t know how to close it again. The technology is ripping through whole employment sectors, and even some of its creators now describe it as an existential threat to humanity.
In the context of the Medium platform, AI threatens the livelihood of anyone trying to earn from writing, and the hobby that many of us enjoy. Human writers now find themselves in direct competition with machines that can turn out pages of text in seconds, that would take hours or days for a mere mortal to write. There is now a technological arms race between AI and detection programmes, as the output of ever-enhanced versions of the benighted bots become harder to identify. It is impossible to compete with a machine programmed with the plagiarised wisdom of all human knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
Digital exclusion - unexpected item in the bagging area
If this comes across as a rant it is. We are letting machines take over our lives without question or challenge. No one asked us if we are happy with this. There was no vote. Did anyone ask us? It is happening by default, the gradual technological takeover, machines stealing human jobs. The money saved is not redeployed for the benefit of humanity. The profits are creamed off, concentrated in the hands of a tiny group of billionaires who then burn them buying yachts, supercars, and their vanity space projects. Eight of them now own half of the world’s wealth.
Self checkout machines
We are probably all familiar with self-checkout machines at supermarkets and elsewhere. The ingenious way that the shops have managed to turn us into their unpaid employees, to check out our shopping. Many people dread them, knowing that almost every attempt ends up with the shaming sounds: “unexpected item in the bagging area”, alerting the whole shop to our technological ineptitude, sometimes complete with a bell and flashing light to identify the culprit.
Parking apps
These are absolutely infuriating for most of us over the age of fifty. We are meant to have a smartphone, have the relevant app downloaded, (it seems to be a different app for every car park), and the ability to work it out. Gone are the days of a simple meter you put your coins into. Who asked us? Did I miss the vote?
Ticket machines
The UK government, in its undoubted wisdom, and probably to distract from its dismal failure in nearly everything it touches, recently decided that thousands of rail ticket offices should be closed, and replaced with machines. Such distraction is sometimes referred to as the dead cat technique. When you have made a colossal failure, as a last resort you put a deceased feline on the table to get people to notice something else. Belatedly they decided perhaps they should have consulted the public first. We are currently waiting to find out if the ticket offices are to close, leaving many disabled or elderly people struggling, and excluding those without bank cards,
Banks closing
With the demise of cash and cheques, bank branches are closing at pace. Gone is the friendly teller, wishing you a good day, who might even know you if they lived locally. The banks have also started closing their cash machines (ATMs) so there are now growing cash deserts.
Pubs closing
In the UK, our pubs are social hubs, in some communities the only communal gathering place. Yet they are rapidly closing, as a reflection of the rapid decline of general amenities, such as libraries and swimming pools. Much of this decline is because we are spending more of our time bunkered down in our nuclear family units, playing online games, sharing memes on anti-social media, or streaming movies, rather than meeting each other in desolate public spaces, increasingly populated by rough sleepers and addicts. More and more places that remain will only accept card payments, so if you don’t have a card you are excluded.
Growth – the problem, not the solution
This is not directly connected to technology, but the economists’ obsession with GDP (gross domestic product) growth is part of the problem, just as much as the “gee wizz” attitude to any new technology. We need to pause and assess whether economic growth and new technology is actually making our lives better or worse. If the latter, then we need to reassess and choose a different path.
https://medium.com/@johnpearce650/small-is-still-beautiful-dc1842bb3510
https://medium.com/@johnpearce650/growth-the-problem-not-the-solution-e76310c33481
Loss of resilience
It is worth considering that the more we go down the route of everything being electronic, and machine-operated, the more vulnerable we are when the system crashes. If cash is completely eliminated, then if the whole system goes down, we are back to the days of bartering a pig for a loaf of bread. There is an old axiom that if something can go wrong it will.
Technological quarantine
So having considered some of the ways in which technology is now making our lives worse, rather than better, what is the solution? My proposal is that the United Nations (UN), which has never fulfilled its proper role and potential, needs to be given much greater control and power to supervise which technologies are permitted to proceed, before they are unleashed on the unsuspecting masses. New technologies need to be put into high-tech quarantine, while UN experts are given the chance to assess whether they are safe to use or not. With some technologies already inflicted on humanity, we need a process of technological de-escalation, while they are withdrawn.
The need for a pause
This is a call for a pause while we reassess our destination. Do we want a future taken over by machines, the type of society envisioned by Yanis Varoufakis in his latest book “Technofeudalsim”, where we are serfs enslaved to the machines operated by the uber-wealthy baron billionaires? A future with a destabilised climate, living in a toxic chemical soup? It is time to press the pause button while we still can.
https://medium.com/eco-news/technofeudalism-what-killed-capitalism-by-yanis-varoufakis-65cc70c48c10
As always, thank you for reading.
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