Why Tech Inevitability is Self-Defeating
15 hours ago
- #Silicon Valley
- #Agency
- #Predictions
- Silicon Valley often preaches the inevitability of technological progress, using quotes from figures like Kevin Kelly, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk to support this view.
- The idea of inevitability is a rhetorical posture that combines elements of fatalism, determinism, and technological determinism, suggesting individual agency doesn't matter.
- Predictions about the future, such as AI surpassing human intelligence, are acts of communication meant to influence and should be approached with skepticism.
- Belief in inevitability can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where lack of action ensures the predicted outcome, while embracing agency allows for the possibility of change.
- The rational stance is to treat predictions as challenges to be fought rather than inevitabilities to be accepted, emphasizing the importance of individual agency in shaping the future.