How viable is tech optimism really? Is Silicon Valley actually doing good for the world? If you ever asked yourself these questions or work in tech and want to get a reflective thought-provoking perspective on whether tech is actually driving progress and for social good, this article is for you – with science-backed perspectives on how tech can be deployed to benefit society as a whole.
Does Technology Drive Societal Progress?
Does Silicon Valley really make the world a better place? How viable is tech optimism really?
Technology != progress. Despite massive tech improvements and the world today being a much better place than in the past, technology in itself does not always guarantee actual progress on societal level. Basic facts like reducing global poverty, making renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels, access to electricity, child mortality, life expectancy among many others improved significantly over recent decades. However, this does not translate to technology inevitably bringing prosperity to society.
Does The World Really Need Technology Like Self-Checkout Counters in Supermarkets?
Look at the supermarket self-checkout counters. They are what nobel-price winning economists Johnsson and Acemoglu refer to as the “so-so” productivity gains – not significant enough to drive actual net productivity gains to truly increase productivity by creating more jobs than being lost nor being more useful to users/customers than a human at the supermarket checkout counter. Yet, they are replacing workers, people are losing their jobs. Essentially, this is resulting in people losing their jobs but productivity gains not being high enough as opposed to railway invention e.g. so the jobs lost are outweighed by new jobs created. Let’s be honest: Nor, does anyone really like the self-checkout supermarket counters. Does the world really need self-checkout supermarket counters? If you’re asking me, the answer is no.
In the book power and progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, Johnsson and Acemoglu argue:
“The reason that Ricardo’s and Keynes’s worst fears about technological unemployment did not come to pass is intimately linked to new tasks. Automation was rapid throughout the twentieth century but did not reduce the demand for workers because it was accompanied by other improvements and reorganizations that produced new activities and tasks for workers.”
Social Good VS. Social Bad: From Cutting Jobs To Frustration And Right-Wing Pressure
Especially in the age of generative AI, particularly agentic AI, reskilling the workforce and training is becoming one of the most crucial challenges for society to solve. It is a downward spiral, already showing its effects seen in right-wing pressure across Europe and the US as an increasing problem.
Jobs are getting automated at an increasing pace, especially repetitive tasks, often affecting junior- and mid-level positions as well as lower-skilled labour jobs. The bottom-half of society is afraid of soon losing their jobs due to AI. Very few highly technical skilled-professionals benefit massively, but most do not see the benefits.
People are unhappy, partly blame governments and start voting right-wing parties promising a better future without realising that only means even more damage for the bottom half of society. It couldn’t be better illustrated than in the US. While fighting for global AI dominance, the richest 1% is gaining more and more wealth, Trump promises to make the American working class great again and the benefits for the working class are yet to be seen.
“Automation has also been a major booster of inequality because it concentrates on tasks typically performed by low- and middle-skill workers in factories and offices. Almost all the demographic groups that experienced real wage declines since 1980 are those that once specialized in tasks that have since been automated.” (source).
History repeatedly shows societal inequality is likely to increase with so-so productivity gains such as with the disappearance of manufacturing jobs in the US correlating with increased suffering among the low-income levels of society and deaths from drug, alcohol abuse among these increased.
There can be a better future. Technology has proven to make our world a much better place as illustrated earlier and well-documented in the book factfulness by Hans Rosling, showing the world is much better off a lot more ways than the majority of society is actually aware of..
Automation and technology – but the right way: Enhancing humans, not replacing humans.
A 4 -Step Process To Build Technology In A Way That Is Actually For Social Good
- Build technology and algorithms for humans first, not machines first. Increase worker productivity in tasks humans are already performing. Fields like Human-Computer-Interaction and human-centered design have the potential to significantly increase human productivity by building tools that make the end-user such as an architect more productive in their daily work.
“When a skilled artisan is given a better chisel or an architect has access to computer-aided design software, their productivity can increase significantly.” (source) - Create new tasks for workers.The railway was a significant and net-positive technological progress since it did create new tasks and jobs by enabling whole new industry sectors such as logistics and tourism. These tasks should aim towards both skilled and unskilled workers. While many companies prioritized automation, also many tech companies created new technical and design tasks for humans.
- Build technology in a way that allows humans to have better decision-making. Decision-making is in many cases constrained by accurate information and technology can play a significant role in helping humans on accessing information and helping human judgement.
“The Web is a milestone in human-machine complementarity: it enables people to access information and wisdom that other humans have produced to a degree essentially unparalleled in the past.” (source)
What is needed to achieve tech 4 good?
I believe a reflected view on tech within the tech sector is a first necessary step. Working in tech for many years from Europe to the US, I hear almost no one seriously questioning the real impact of their work.
As a former PM myself, I look at daily user numbers in the millions and at big tech like Google, TikTok or Facebook these numbers are even in the billions. Yet, making product decisions with such far-reaching impact feels abstract. Tech products have a tremendous impact on society.
The main incentive for big tech companies is maximizing shareholder value and increasing profits and unfortunately, I do not see enough peers questioning the underlying system dynamics. While tech for good is aiming to build more momentum around a more reflected point of view on technology, with this blog, I am aiming to have little contribution towards making this impact a reality.
I do believe there can be a new movement not only outside but within the tech ecosystem empowering entrepreneurs to build tech with intention. Entrepreneurship allows new and upcoming companies to use AI to their advantage, decentralizing power away from big tech. Uprising movements around micro SaaS or indie hackers are demonstrating this trend today. Startups have the enormous potential and power to break into existing markets and disrupt and challenge big tech – but instead of purely being focused on investor returns, let’s shift focus towards a reflected view on how tech can actually do good for society as a whole.
History shows we need to learn from the lessons of the past and allow counterbalancing powers against big tech to balance power and responsibility, particularly in the age of AI. Companies need to be hold accountable to build responsible technology. Aiming for a world world of tech that has the impact in mind on all of society as it deploys more and more tech into the hands of millions and billions of users.
What it takes to achieve tech for social good
In a nutshell, tech for good can be achieved by focusing on:
- Building a reflective layer in tech that even sparks to think about tech and progress in a critical manner
- improving productivity of workers in their current jobs
- Creating new tasks for workers and technology built to enhance humans, not replacing it
- Building technology to support better and more reliable decision making
- Building technological tools and platforms that bring people together with different skills and needs
Recommended Books
- Most cited source of this blog post: Power and Progress – Our 1,000 Year Struggle over technology & Progress; Acemoglu & Johnsson.
- Insightful piece on ethical AI and the rise of “modern-day empires” in the private sector: Empire of AI; Karen Hao.
- Thought-provoking piece on Silicon Valley: Live, Work, Work, Work, Die; Corey Pein.
- Common misconceptions most people get wrong about basic facts of the world; Factfulness, Hans Rosling.
