The Tech That Comes Next

Chapter NineWhere Will You Go Next?

In the course of writing this book we talked to so many talented, passionate, thoughtful people. In many of those conversations, we explained what we wanted to say in the book: the big ideas we wanted to get across; the reason for naming social impact organizations, technologists, funders, policymakers, and communities as the groups to think about; and the actions we hope people would take after reading it. We kept coming back to the same metaphor we envisioned at the beginning of working together:

If all of us got together in one big room, and could pull out from our pockets the resources each of us has access to—be those skills, power, ideas, experience, or funding—we could pile it all up on the table. And, there, in front of us, would be everything we need to build anything we want: a new tool, a new program, a new world.

When we are together—truly, really, deeply together—we can do anything. The limits are our imagination and nothing else.

A COMMUNITY‐CENTERED FUTURE IS POSSIBLE

Throughout the book we've highlighted the realities and outcomes surrounding us today, the products of systemic exclusion that impacts who is seen as worthy of or appropriate for leading change, developing technology, receiving funding, or creating policies. And, we've shared recommendations, asked questions, and highlighted examples of what it might look like to work differently, with an inverted system of inclusion instead.

The two illustrations in this ...