Post #2061242
2026-04-16 15:24 UTC
@dave who was that philosopher you quoted on the Podcasting 2.0 show? You said something like "technology will always do it's worst thing."
I've been quoting that endlessly since I heard you say it; now I need the source!
Replies (1)
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@dave@podcastindex.social 2026-04-16 17:02
@mijustin@mastodon.social That is Jacque Ellul in The Technological Society. That is my paraphrase of his ideas that technology is "morally autonomous" and that it always seeks it's "most efficient use". That's why it wants to exist. Nobody designs a sub-optimal technology on purpose. Maybe a better way I should say it is that the combination of those principles means that technological innovation is sociopathic. Sociopaths can do some good in the world, but they will also do their worst. They're driven to.