The Human Cost of Technological Progress

Episode 135

I spoke with L. M. Sacasas about:

* His writing and intellectual influences

* The value of asking hard questions about technology and our relationship to it

* What happens when we decide to outsource skills and competency

* Evolving notions of what it means to be human and questions about how to live a good life

Enjoy—and let me know what you think!

Michael is Executive Director of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Florida and author of The Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and society.

He does some of the best writing on technology I’ve had the pleasure to read, and I highly recommend his newsletter.

Find me on Twitter for updates on new episodes, and reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.

I spend a lot of time on this podcast—if you like my work, you can support me on Patreon :) You can also support upkeep for the full Gradient team/project through a paid subscription on Substack!

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Outline:

* (00:00) Intro

* (01:12) On podcasts as a medium

* (06:12) Michael’s writing

* (12:38) Michael’s intellectual influences, contingency

* (18:48) Moral seriousness

* (22:00) Michael’s ambitions for his work

* (26:17) The value of asking the right questions (about technology)

* (34:18) Technology use and the “natural” pace of human life

* (46:40) Outsourcing of skills and competency, engagement with others

* (55:33) Inevitability narratives and technological determinism, the “Borg Complex”

* (1:05:10) Notions of what it is to be human, embodiment

* (1:12:37) Higher cognition vs. the body, dichotomies

* (1:22:10) The body as a starting point for philosophy, questions about the adoption of new technologies

* (1:30:01) Enthusiasm about technology and the cultural milieu

* (1:35:30) Projectivism, desire for knowledge about and control of the world

* (1:41:22) Positive visions for the future

* (1:47:11) Outro

Links:

* Michael’s Substack: The Convivial Society and his book, The Frailest Thing: Ten Years of Thinking about the Meaning of Technology

* Michael’s Twitter

* Essays

* Humanist Technology Criticism

* What Does the Critic Love?

* The Ambling Mind

* Waste Your Time, Your Life May Depend On It

* The Work of Art

* The Stuff of (a Well-Lived) Life