Technology as Teenager

From the smart folks at TED, the multi-talented Kevin Kelly publisher of the Whole Earth Review and Executive Director at WIRED, shares his take on the evolution of technology. According to the TED Blog, "He suggests that we can think of technology as another kingdom of life -- call it the technium. And that, like all other life, it grows. In part, he has this to say:"

I tend to think of the technium like a child of humanity. Our job will be to train the technium, to imbue it with certain principles because, at a certain level and at a certain age, it will basically become much more autonomous than it is now. It will leave us like a teenager who goes on to live alone: although he or she will continue to interact with us and will always be part of us, we have to let it go.

To succeed in this, though, he warns:

We need to have a deep sense of our values, what we stand for. In a deep irony, the more technology advances, the less sure we are of who we are and what we stand for as a species and as individuals.

See Kevin's entire fascinating talk at TED 2005 (noise, 20 minutes). Boy, is this piece thought provoking.