October 30, 2021   |   2 comments

James Tunney discusses some of the ideas raised in his book TechBondAge.

(Stream / download audio at bottom of page)

We like to think of technology as liberating and levelling, allowing open access to information and greater equality of opportunity. However, in the early 21st century it is becoming increasingly clear that the technologies of connection and communication are turning and being turned against us. To the dysfunctions caused by over-reliance on and addiction to consumer technologies are being added the insidious impositions of a matrix of coercive control and surveillance rapidly encircling the Earth. Mainstream media, mindless entertainment, and other weapons of mass distraction are blinding billions to the high-tech dystopia currently being constructed all around them, from which there may soon be no escape. Many of us have already experienced being denied access to the global informational grid, whether by holding the wrong opinions or by simply not possessing the latest gadgets. The possibility of a future where there are no alternatives should give us all pause for thought.

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