Tech Trust? Resistance is Not Futile
Extract from: Mark Kingwell’s book: Wish I were Here: Boredom and the Interface, McGill -Queen’s University Press 2019
“One can see the appeal of tech trust, in short, the secular faith in device-enabled ease that moved people to heap flowers outside Apple stores when Steve Jobs passed into the ether. But comfort always comes at a price, and hiding the costs behind the glow of your screen does not change that reality. Technology is more an environment than an economic sector, as omnipresent and comprehensive as the air. To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi circa 1977, it surrounds us and enetrates us. Unlike the Force, however, it is executed mostly in proprietary formats that demand constant upgrade, plus media platforms and search engines that look public but are in fact private corporations with hungry shareholders to feed.”
“But wait, you say: the toys! the toys! This is Candyland in your hand! Who doesn't love that? Quite a few people, actually, though they tend to be ignored because they are the disenchanted and the disenfranchised. They realize that the apparent democratization of social media invites false consciousness, while the liberations of phone-extended consciousness enable soft slavery. You don't have to be a Luddite to think that, so far from trusting the purveyors of our everyday zombiehood, we should be subjecting them to the sharpest possible criticism. One might even be tempted to bite the bullet and simply be a neo-Luddite, ideally with the realization that this is an option only for the lucky and blessed. The sly ensorcellments of Silicon Valley conceal cynical realities of oppression and entitlement. It's a long con that could do with some debunking. In an earlier moment of the tech revolution, actual visionaries like Neal Stephenson and William Gibson demonstrated what an unevenly distributed future looks like. Poverty and suffering are not illusions or glitches in the system; they are part of its intrinsic logic. Government and media may be imperfect, but at least they claim to be in the service of the demos. The tinpot deities of tech don't even do that. Why do we give them the time of day, let alone your money and our loyalty?”
“Trust me, resistance is not futile. Better yet, trust yourself.”
