Will developing countries be positively impacted by AI and the newest technology? Not always, what is needed is appropriate technology. Today we explore the question, “What is appropriate technology?”

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In this third part of their reflection on Yuval Harari’s Atlantic piece anticipating technology’s march toward tyranny, Jay Richards and Robert J. Marks discuss the many assumptions that drive his predictions. At the root of these speculations is an overestimation of the power of information processing systems and an underestimation of the human ability to be the true governors of their creations, rather than their docile “pets”. In particular, a failure to appreciate the true nature of the human mind results in a dismissal of art, religion, and democracy. (more…)

Will A.I. ultimately make free market economics obsolete and destroy democracy in favor of digital dictatorships? Well, forecasting, “especially about the future”, is hard. Jay Richards returns to further discuss Yuval Harari’s prognosticating and along the way gives reason to hope for a far more promising future, grounded in the resilient and reinventing human self.