Technological Determinism

By editor on February 20, 2018 — 1 min read

Technology is deterministic. We’re gonna do stuff. We’re gonna build the stuff that’s possible. It’s going to happen. Will the person that builds the next great battery technology not be allowed to because the same batteries could be used in a dirty bomb? Even though those same batteries can basically uplift the entire transportation system of like 100 developing nations? Of course  not.

Are we gonna tell Google they can’t build Google Glass because all of a sudden some guy is running around and he’s built an app that allows people to identify women’s faces? That’s a really bad thing, I get it. But what about the surgeon that can also then perform remote surgery using Google Glass?

My point is that these are not clean answers. You have to have the courage to basically say as long as this stuff generally outweighs the bad, you gotta move forward. So we are living in a world where you have to either confront it and say, “I’m gonna live my life transparently,” or hide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDVDWNguPs4 (55:50)

Posted in: Society

Editor's Note

These are Chamath Palihapitiya's words. They are probably some of the best thoughts on VC, business, and life, but were scattered around the Internet. They live now in this archive.