(Before you read any further: Kelly is using the fuzzy term ‘technium’ as the collection of all man-made technologies, tools and practices ever made or developed. The ‘technium’ hence includes things like agriculture or law for instance.)
In this book Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine and a devoted ‘technology optimist’, develops an exhaustive amount of arguments to prove one point: the ‘technium’ is an organic, autonomous and purposeful entity that, if left uncontrolled, will ultimately be good for humanity.
Put in this way this comes close to a belief, rather than a scientific work. And, indeed, the many proofs of point Kevin uses are regularly mixed with convictions and opinions. This mixture sometimes result in awkward reasoning (such as the statement that the technium is essentially pro-life, since for every environmentally destructive innovation one could think of plenty of greener alternatives), or worse, in pompous statements (p270: ‘[…] technology’s inevitable forms coalesce around the dozen or so dynamics common to all exotropic systems, including life itself’).
Luckily, the book contains loads of interesting views as well.
In his efforts to compare the technium with a living organism such as a human being (hence determined by a combination of DNA, history and free will), Kevin concludes that the technium is now in its phase of adolescence, where it claims its independence from its creators. We, as parents of good will, need not fear this strife for autonomy (in much the same way we needn’t worry about our children sooner or later leading their own life), it is a natural process. “Technology is an ever-elaborate tool that we wield and continually update to improve our world; and it is an ever ripening superorganism, of which we are but a part that is following a direction beyond our own making”. Interesting view, which would imply that technologies humans are blocking, for privacy concerns for instance, should be left to develop freely, since sooner or later they will turn out to be beneficiary anyhow.
Another interesting thought comes with Kevin’s study of the Amish community’s use of technology. The Amish don’t reject the use of technology altogether, but they let other humans test them in order to make a choice for themselves of which technologies fit with their beliefs and values. Kelly concludes: “To maximize our own contentment, we seek the minimum amount of technology in our lives. Yet to maximize the contentment of others, we must maximize the amount of technology in the world. Indeed, we can only find our own minimal tools if others have created a sufficient maximum pool of options we can choose from”.
If from the start you take into consideration that Kelly is a die-hard, biased technology optimist, the book offers a compelling read.
My only fundamental remark is that Kelly views the technium as an external, separated entity –although it stems from humans. His line of thinking –as well as his conclusions- would have been completely different if he would see the technium as an implicit part of (human) life…
Read my previous book reviews:
- "Crowdsourcing" Jeff Howe
- "The next big thing" William Higham
- "Future Files" Richard Watson
- "Future savvy" Adam Gordon
- "Futurewise" Patrick Dixon
- "Ecological intelligence" Daniel Goleman
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