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1/A quick thread about the tech industry and the social changes going on in America.
The tech industry has made many enemies. It's fashionable to hate Big Tech. Some of that antipathy is deserved, some is not...
The tech industry has made many enemies. It's fashionable to hate Big Tech. Some of that antipathy is deserved, some is not...
2/But I think it's important to remember the ways that the tech industry has contributed to that social change.
Social media enabled a major, rapid upending of America's social and cultural power hierarchies.
No social media means no MeToo, probably no BLM, etc.
Social media enabled a major, rapid upending of America's social and cultural power hierarchies.
No social media means no MeToo, probably no BLM, etc.
3/More generally, the whole social upheaval that people are calling the "Awokening" happened because people who felt marginalized by America's culture and society were able to connect with each other on social media, unite, and find out that together, they had power.
4/This revolution happened because the tools available to Americans changed.
And those new tools came from tech companies - Twitter, Facebook, Google, Reddit, etc.
And those new tools came from tech companies - Twitter, Facebook, Google, Reddit, etc.
5/Now, partly, this is a cautionary tale for capitalists.
The things you think will serve you often prove to be more powerful than you.
The things you think will serve you often prove to be more powerful than you.
6/But the broader lesson here is that "Tech", the industry, is very different from technology, the thing.
Technology, the thing, means tools. More tools for humans = more power for human beings.
Technology, the thing, means tools. More tools for humans = more power for human beings.
7/And when ordinary human beings get more tools, though they often use those tools for bad purposes, in general they use them to advance their own interests.
And those interests often include "not being stepped on by powerful people."
And those interests often include "not being stepped on by powerful people."
8/And the funny thing is, I think that in the 90s and early 00s, technologists generally wanted to put tools and power in the hands of average people. I remember the language of liberation, and of overturning power structures, being very common in Silicon Valley back then.
9/And that's exactly what happened, isn't it?
It didn't happen exactly the way the technologists predicted. And many of them got caught up in the revolution they themselves unleashed. But it really did happen.
It didn't happen exactly the way the technologists predicted. And many of them got caught up in the revolution they themselves unleashed. But it really did happen.
10/It's always dangerous to try to identify these historical trends, but it seems to me that as information technologies have gotten better and better - the printing press, radio, the telephone, the web, cell phones, social media - marginalized people have kept making progress.
11/Big Tech, the institution, and Tech, the culture, may be unpopular right now, but the thesis that technology tends to help marginalized people overcome the structures of power that oppress them...seems to be doing fine.
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