Stephen Reid, a thought leader in metamodernism, discusses technology's evolving landscape and its philosophical implications. He explores the balance necessary between techno-optimism and eco-dystopian views, emphasizing deeper values like sovereignty and relationality. The conversation highlights ethical tech development and the importance of community-driven frameworks, including quadratic funding for open source projects. Reid also touches on imagination’s role in shaping future technologies and the intriguing intersections of consciousness, spirituality, and AI.
The podcast explores the need for a balanced approach to technology that transcends techno-optimism and eco-dystopianism, proposing technological metamodernism as a solution.
Axiological design is emphasized in the conversation, highlighting the importance of integrating ethical and moral considerations into technological innovation to promote societal well-being.
The discussion envisions speculative futures like solar punk and lunar punk, advocating for imaginative visions that align technology with human flourishing and deeper spiritual connections.
Deep dives
Technological Metamodernism Course Overview
A new course on technological metamodernism aims to address the current technological landscape and its implications for society. This course is motivated by the need to find a middle ground between the extremes of effective accelerationism, which advocates for unmitigated technological progress, and the pessimistic doomer perspective, which views technology as fundamentally harmful. The emphasis is on transcending simplistic binaries, encouraging critical engagement with technology in a way that is informed by ethical and moral considerations. Through this lens, the course will explore the synthesis of modern and postmodern ideas to create new paths forward for technology that do not sacrifice societal well-being or values.
The Role of Values in Technological Design
The conversation emphasizes the importance of integrating values within technological design, advocating for an axiological approach rather than a nihilistic one. The discussion references notable figures such as Daniel Schmachtenberger, who argues that understanding the externalities and values encoded in technology is crucial for responsible innovation. Axiological design involves asking hard questions about what technologies promote freedom or community, rather than simply prioritizing efficiency or profit. This value-centered approach aims to counteract the unintended negative consequences of technology, promoting a more intentional and thoughtful integration of moral and ethical considerations.
Exploring Tech Futures Combined with Spirituality
The course will delve into speculative and imaginative futures that blend technology with spirituality, proposing concepts such as solar punk and lunar punk. Solar punk envisions a bright and ecologically sustainable future, while lunar punk emphasizes deeper spiritual connections. Both futures call for a reconceptualization of modern technology to support human flourishing rather than creating disconnection. This exploration highlights the necessity of creative imagination in shaping the technological landscapes we want, recognizing that without an imaginative vision, effective progress may remain unattainable.
Engaging with Contemporary Technological Issues
Key contemporary issues such as AI ethics, decentralized technologies, and the balance between individual sovereignty and community are critical topics discussed in the course. Specific challenges include the debate regarding AI development and its ethical implications amid concerns about power dynamics in a multi-polar technology landscape. The course aims to create dialogues on how decentralized governance and community-driven standards can foster healthier societal outcomes. By addressing these challenges, the course seeks to reveal ways technology can be developed to align with collective human values and societal good.
Community-Driven Funding and Open Source Initiatives
The course incorporates innovative funding mechanisms like quadratic funding to support open-source content, reflecting a community-centric approach to technology and knowledge sharing. This funding strategy incentivizes broad participation by valuing the number of contributors as much as the amount donated. It aims to ensure that essential resources and learnings are accessible to a larger audience, democratizing knowledge while also addressing funding challenges faced by open-source projects. Additionally, the course hints at a deeper exploration of ethical frameworks that could govern open-source initiatives, balancing openness with responsibility and community standards.
In the episode on "Technological Metamodernism," Vince Fakhoury Horn and Stephen Reid discuss the intersection of technology, metamodernism, and the potential middle paths that navigate between techno-optimism or e/acc and eco-dystopianism or doomerism. They explore how emerging technologies can be aligned with deeper values, such as sovereignty, relationality, and wholeness, while also addressing the challenges of our current technological trajectory.
🔗 Life Itself - A project focused on the "Second Renaissance," mentioned in the context of Rufus Pollock's work, another of the special guests of the Technological Metamodernism course.
🔗 Gitcoin - The platform that supports the quadratic funding method mentioned by which Stephen is raising funds in order open source material from the course. You can contribute to the funding for that project here.
