One-liner
Cal Newport's article in The New Yorker advocates for a more selective and critical approach to technological adoption, challenging the inevitability of integrating every new tool and suggesting a reassertion of human autonomy in the face of a dominant technopoly.
Synopsis
The Rise of the Technopoly
Newport begins by recalling the backlash to his 2016 op-ed that questioned the necessity of social media for career success, highlighting the dominant belief in technology's unassailable role in modern life. He references Neil Postman's "Technopoly" to describe the historical evolution from tool-using cultures, to technocracies, and finally to technopolies, where technology's influence is so pervasive that it eclipses traditional cultural values.
Cultural Resistance and Techno-selectionism
The author notes early signs of resistance against the technopoly with the changing perceptions of social media platforms during the Trump-Clinton election cycle. He introduces "techno-selectionism," a concept that acknowledges the benefits of innovation but supports the intentional selection and rejection of technologies based on their overall impact on society. This attitude is evident in actions such as the Writers Guild of America's constraints on AI in screenwriting or the Authors Guild's lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement.
The Path Forward
Newport concludes by advocating for a conscious curation of technology, accepting those that bring net benefits while discarding those that cause harm. He argues against the submissive approach to technological adoption, suggesting that subtractive curation can help steer societal evolution in more productive directions, and emphasizes the need to shed any shame associated with rejecting the latest advancements when necessary.
Key quotes
- "In a capitalist economy, the market rewards things that are rare and valuable. Social media use is decidedly not rare or valuable."
- "Technopoly eliminates alternatives to itself in precisely the way Aldous Huxley outlined in Brave New World. It does not make them illegal. It does not make them immoral. It does not even make them unpopular. It makes them invisible and therefore irrelevant."
- "What if we simply decided to leave professional creative writing to humans?"
- "Decades of living in a technopoly have taught us to feel shame in ever proposing to step back from the cutting edge."
- "Our task is to understand what that design is—that is to say, when we admit a new technology to the culture, we must do so with our eyes wide open."
Make it stick
- "Selective Integration" - Not every tech advancement is a step forward. Discern and choose technologies that truly add value.
- "The Technopoly Trap" - Unchecked technology adoption can overshadow our culture and values. Avoid falling into complacency.
- "Techno-selectionism" - It's about choosing wisely, not jumping on every tech bandwagon.
Talking points
- Did you know that Neil Postman described three phases of our relationship with technology: tool-using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies?
- Have you heard about the Authors Guild suing OpenAI because their A.I. was trained on copyrighted work?
- What do you think about the idea that stepping away from some technologies could be as important as adopting new ones for our
This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.