What might we gain if we voluntarily gave up some power? We’re doing a series of emails about some specific cultural mythologies, the powers those myths give us, and what alternatives we might explore.

This week’s myth: “technological advances are inevitable so we should adopt them as quickly as possible.” 

You can see this story behind businesses using social media to advertise, schools teaching kids how to use AI, and law enforcement agencies rolling out surveillance technologies like Flock cameras. Each act is justified by the myth, and gives us new powers:

• Social media lets you communicate to a wider audience than just the people you know 
• AI gives us the power to write quickly and complete many other complex tasks much faster
• Flock cameras help police solve crimes 

Under our prevalent mythology, these powers are good, and it’s OK to proceed adopting the tech in exchange and taking advantage of the powers. There’s not much in our mythology that encourages us to consider what powers we are forfeiting in the process, though!

If our cultural mythology taught us that “it is anti-social to roll out technological advances without a careful consideration of its potential impacts, and a process in place to roll it back if it doesn’t go well,” then we might notice some of the powers we could have if we chose not to adopt the new tech:

• If we didn’t use social media, our kids would have more power to actually socialize. Many parents around Iowa City are starting to cast off the benefits of social media so that their kids are better able to make actual social connections.
  
  
• If we chose not to use AI, we’d retain the power of knowing when someone has chosen to spend real time on something, and use that as a signal for trust- and collaboration-building. We’d keep the power to trust video evidence. We’d keep the power to believe it was our son on the phone just because it sounds like our son.
  
  
• If we chose not to use Flock, we’d retain the power of meeting privately. Our city council (and Coralville’s) recently chose to give up the benefits of solving more crimes so that we can keep protecting vulnerable populations, keep protecting spaces that resist authoritarianism, and keep having good times without feeling like the gd government is watching.

I see a lot of hope in things like our parents and councilors rejecting some of these powers. I think we’re starting to realize we can’t just trust tech companies and governments to look out for us, and we need to start bringing our own judgement to the table. Let’s keep going!

Resilience-Building Events For You!

We’ll figure this out together. Come to one of these for fun and solidarity!

Stories of Community

Saturday, February 28 at 12:30 PM
FilmScene at the Chauncey

This film festival celebrating local leaders is less than 10 minutes long. Don’t be late!

 

Sip 'n Hang

Wednesday, March 4 at 9:00-10:00 AM
Zoetic Coffee Shop - 947 US-6, Iowa City, IA 52240

No agenda, just come & chill if you like. Coffee’s on us. 50% chance we end up talking about something heavy that makes us feel more seen and heard and together. Heavy conversations 100% optional.

 

RSFIC Volunteer Orientation

Wednesday, March 4 at 4:00 PM
RSFIC - 1927 Keokuk St

Interested in RSFIC’s mission and looking for ways to pitch in? Come to our inaugural volunteer orientation! Please park across the street.

Ideas for your own experiments with culture shifting

Almost all of us have been following the myth of technological inevitability, and we can see that it is destroying our world. There’s not going to be some technocrat who comes up with the solution - experts have been calmly saying we’re killing the planet for 60 years, and we still use more fossil fuels every gosh darn year. The change we need is social, not technical, and that means we need all 8+ billion of us to shift our behavior. 

But how? Here are some ideas we’ve had that might help you think about what you’d like to try.

• If, like me, you bought a cloud-connected security or doorbell camera, consider disabling it. Let us know if you gain anything!
   
• Social media platforms do give us the power to connect, and they also corrupt elections, polarize us against each other, and seem linked to child suicide - you could try to use them less and see what happens. 
  
  
• AI bots give you a lot of new powers, and are also putting the whole economy at risk, and stressing the environment more. You could try rejecting them and see if there are any benefits you might share with the rest of us.
  
  
• Have another idea for something to try? Lemme know and I'll share it out next week!

Peace,
Riley
Co-founder of RSFIC