We Broke Everything

Technology has negatively impacted every aspect of the modern human existence. It’s left no stone unturned. It’s broken politics, communities, the economy and the environment. Our society lies in tatters due to the inaction of those culpable of this upheaval: software engineers and those who guide them.

There was still hope as the tech industry wobbled into the new millennium, licking our wounds from the dot-com bubble bursting at the end of the 1990s. We have learnt our lesson. We still had some things to learn before we could try and sell everything online, so we turned our codey little fingers to other endeavours.

DISRUPTION was the battle cry. Technological innovations were meant to save the world; between 2000 and 2010, the world changed. Apple launched the iPod, quickly followed by the iPhone, and it would change forever how we interact with the internet — and each other. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube launched, irreparably changing how media would be consumed by the masses while manifesting the “algorithm” that would influence all our lives. Bitcoin launched and promised disruption of the banking industry, taking the power away from the institutional banks. Similarly, Uber ushered in the dawn of a new platform economy where everyone could sell their services to everyone else.

Tech CoDisruption

The digital cash registers rang in investors’ ears, and just like the eCommerce boom of the mid-90s, the money flowed — once again — into the technology start-up scene. Engineers and the people who led them grabbed the cash and ran off to build their shiny widgets of innovation while the suits galloped off to see if they could swap them for magic beans.

The only important question was, “What can we disrupt next?”. No one seemed to be asking, “Should we?”. Google silently dropped its “Do No Evil” motto, and San Fransico found itself far away from the peace, love and flowers of the hippie culture that had defined it for most of the 1960s.

As well as disruption, technology brought corruption—unmetered impacts to society.

Crypto Currency

Promised

A decentralised global financial platform that removed the power from institutional corporate banks.

Delivered

A plaything for market traders and a cacophony of fraud and nonsense alt-coins.
Social Media

Promised

A globally connected society.

Delivered

A loneliness pandemic, attention span problems, and a social landscape where politically extreme views divide our society.
Platform Economy

Promised

Platforms where people can sell their goods and services directly to the consumer.

Delivered

The gig economy, labour exploitations and uncontrollable inner-city property prices and rents.

We didn’t stop to think.

Powerful technology was unleashed onto our global society without consideration for people or the environment. Some of the responsibility must lie with the people who built the technology: the engineers, architects, tech leads, and managers.

It’s too early to understand if we’re too late, but what is evident is the speed of technology isn’t slowing down. We stand on the brink of powerful artificial intelligence technology being poured into our society like previous innovations have.

For an answer, we look to the mid-1970s, to the Punks.

Find Out About The Punk