Tools for Conviviality (Ivan Illich) has this idea about the two watersheds of new technology.
During the first watershed, it solves an actual problem + improves the lives of those who adopt it.
During the second watershed, it gets institutionalized and the technology shifts into something that requires people serve it rather than serving those it’s intended to help.
His examples are all old technologies like modern medicine, non party line wired phones, the radio, etc. but the ideas fit the shape of the technological advances we’re seeing in our lifetimes as well.
During the first watershed, it solves an actual problem + improves the lives of those who adopt it.
During the second watershed, it gets institutionalized and the technology shifts into something that requires people serve it rather than serving those it’s intended to help.
His examples are all old technologies like modern medicine, non party line wired phones, the radio, etc. but the ideas fit the shape of the technological advances we’re seeing in our lifetimes as well.