The Technology Doesn't Matter

Chapter 11What Matters and What Doesn’t

Technology does “matter” in the broad sense of the word. I firmly believe that technology can solve many of the world's most pressing problems. The main reason I believe this is because it already has.

Technological advances in the field of agriculture, championed by Norman Borlaug in the 1950s, are credited with saving the lives of a billion people worldwide who otherwise would have died of starvation. The ag-tech innovations that are happening today, accelerated by technology Borlaug could never have dreamed of, will sustain the ever-increasing population of this planet for decades to come.

Medical technology has saved millions of lives, from the advent of antibiotics to the present day. Today, high-speed computing has enabled DNA mapping so that custom treatment plans can be tailored to the individual, improving outcomes for cancer patients and extending the length and quality of their lives.

In education, entertainment, communications, and nearly every other industry on Earth, technology advances continue to build upon past innovations and improve the quality of life for people across the planet. We look back and laugh at eight-tracks, cassette tapes, flip phones, and AOL.com. The technologies we use today make the advances of the past look obsolete and quaint. But we also know that many of the technologies we marvel at today will be fodder for comedy within 10 years or less.

The constant evolution of technology makes the specific ...