How do you make technology for good?
Technology is never neutral. It is not easy to say that tech-is-for-good. Tech needs constant updates, replacements and care! In the hunt for new and cool tech, old tech suffers. So are folks stuck with old tech. Every upgrade makes the entire investment useless. New ones do not guarantee better-experience. If you are building tech how do you make-it-good and for-good?
Tech also has negative counts on equality, transparency and accountability aspects. The divide-in-society, the new fear-of-losing-out, and immersive-addictive-isolation are tech-enabled.
Earlier, companies taught people to make plans for regular-maintenance, periodic-updates and planned-upgrades. Backing it with warranties, maintenance-contracts and buy-back-schemes. Now, they are re-wiring the practice, one-device-at-a-time.
It was fascinating to show our products to our families and friends. Recommending our products with pride was part of being an Engineer. They lasted well over two-three-decades. Every time someone came-back with a part-request after a decade, we were happy to treat them with care. Customer loyalty was beyond reward-point-system.
Now with so much advancements, tools and techniques, why can’t we make tech last longer than before? If we can increase the outreach of care and life-span of people with tech, why not tech itself? Can’t tech be good for itself?
That’s the question for every tech person. If you introduce yourself as a technology person, think twice. Are you making something good for good or tinkering for good? Every line of code you write, every design marking you go-ahead-with, has a mark on this world. The amount of digital-dust we are creating is unimaginable. Where is this headed and what will it do? Who’ll clean this mess and the mess it creates? Environmental enthusiasts soon will find a new topic to pursue. Before that, it is up-to the responsible tech people, to be good.
Tech for good requires a set of fundamental guiding principles. Some of them include – Practice Essentialism. Adopt responsible-design-practices. Focus on effectiveness. Kill-short-cuts and patch-works.
Make your own tech-work-manifesto. Live by it. Pass-it-on. Make-it-a-cult. Take-an-oath when you start your work to be making-tech-for-good. May be, good-tech follows.
What is your tech-work-manifesto?