It seems that a lot of criticism of technology criticism goes along the lines of “it’s not the technology, it’s user error” — and along with this critique is often the very Whiggish idea that if we just come up with the right technology or abolish capitalism or what have you we will not have the problems with technology that we have today. What I think these critiques miss is that many technological developments are misused because they make a mockery of human limits. It’s a lot harder to have a proportional sense of justice, for example, if you can push a button and blow up a village in another country. The more powerful the technology and the more deeply this technology appeals to some base aspect of our nature, the more destructive it will be and the more we will be required to limit our free access to it if we want to have any chance at flourishing.
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