Technology Does Not Make Us Worse

Only an individual human can make themselves better or worse by the choices they make.

Technology opens up previously impossible choices. It increases the area of expression for what’s inside us. Sometimes what it reveals about us is dark and disturbing. We are capable of a lot worse than we like to imagine, and technological change – just like changes in cultural norms and economic conditions – provide new opportunities to see what we are and are not made of.

Many of us are not capable of using new technology in a life-giving way. At least not early on, when protective norms and market incentives haven’t formed around it. But banning or restricting tech with violence will not improve who we are or reduce our evils. They will still exist and still do damage, only in less visible ways. And the use of reactionary violence in opposition to tech is more dangerous than the tech itself.

Understand the dangers and risks and changes technology brings, but know it’s not creating new evil. It’s only revealing what we already are. Treating the symptoms won’t stop the disease.