Monster

6A MANIFESTO FOR TAMING THE MONSTER

In which we propose a series of provocations about how we can renegotiate our “terms of endearment” with disruptive technologies — and ourselves — over the coming months and years. Our response must help us adapt to a decade that will be shaped by both technology and the pandemic, social (r)evolution, climate change, and more.

Can we simply turn off tech? Disconnect? Go dark? Maybe, but it’s not easy. For many of us, it’s simply not possible. (And what’s the fun in that?!) What we can do, must do, is reflect on how we want to engage with tech, decide what we want for our societies (and ourselves), and then act accordingly. Maybe we can’t turn it “off,” but we sure as hell can turn it down!

Throughout the book, we’ve dropped crumbs and seeds of our initial ideas on how to begin to tame the beast. We’d like to leave you with our unequivocal list of declarations about what we must do to begin to tame the Monster, leaving us with healthy jobs, lives, and societies.

Over the years we’ve spent working on this book, it’s become increasingly clear that our relationships with the technologies of our modern world have created a monster, because the machine — the thing we are building — is still incomplete. It’s like we’ve built a car, but we’re only halfway done. We haven’t finished the brakes; the steering only works intermittently; and there is no ...