Technology has had some grim effects on us: We are addicted to the dopamine rush of social media; we thoughtlessly carry surveillance devices in our pockets; we are being watched, overheard, recorded for the sake of commerce; and we are allowing the very nature of truth to be turned on its head.
We at WIRED are very aware of these ills. We write about them all the time. But we also see that technology is a medium; sometimes it’s a humanizing, enchanting one. To wrestle with this seeming contradiction, we reached out to Paul Ford. A technologist, nerd, CEO, and one of the most engaging voices you will ever read, Ford immediately agreed, promising “a mix of almost Augustinian apologia/confession along with genuine love and optimism.”
Reader, he delivered. His essay, “Why I (Still) Love Tech,” is a rollicking celebration that leads to a mournful and elegiac conclusion: “The mysteries of software caught my eye when I was a boy, and I still see it with the same wonder, even though I’m now an adult. Proudshamed, yes, but I still love it, the mess of it, the code and toolkits, down to the pixels and the processors. I love the whole made world. But I can’t deny that the miracle is over, and there is an unbelievable amount of work left for us to do.”
Vera Titunik | Features Editor, WIRED
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