Technology Is Not the Problem

Lack of awareness of unconscious forces is

Dear Friends,

People often think technology is the problem and getting rid of it is the solution.

But technology is not the problem. Technology is a magnifier, an accelerant, a multiplier, but not the problem itself.

Today’s technology enables us to do things to a degree we couldn't before. We can destroy an entire city with an atomic bomb, take down skyscrapers within hours that took years to build, or kill an enemy's military leader with a remote-controlled drone.

Sounds pretty bad. But if technology is not the problem, then what is?

Lack of awareness.

Most people are unaware of their past conditioning (trauma, domestication, or shadows, if you prefer), which drives their current behavior. In Western psychology, this is referred to as psychodynamics. Conditioning, primarily shame, causes us to behave unbeneficially or destructively, not only toward ourselves but also toward all of life.

Before today's technology, the effects of our behavior informed by conditioning were limited.

Thousands of years ago, if you wanted to share something in public, you'd go to the town center and shout into the crowd. Your voice limited the number of people you could reach. Today, you can broadcast a fake press release to billions instantaneously. If you are intelligent, ambitious—and unconscious—that's a problem.

In 2008, someone posted anonymously to a CNN subsidiary website that Steve Jobs suffered a heart attack. Apple's stock plummeted 10%. Many believe hedge funds were behind the scheme to profit from Steve's impending death.

If I live in Kenya with my family but have few means of income, I may look at a critically endangered black rhinoceros and think, "I wonder how much its horn is worth?" If I have a hatchet, I won't get far before the rhino rears around and crushes me. But with a single bullet, I can kill the rhino from a safe distance, sell its horn and feed my family.

In these crude examples, technology did not cause my behavior. My behavior resulted from my inability to see other people as real or the preciousness of an endangered animal.

Advanced technology enabled me to act out my conditioning on a larger and more damaging scale.

While I don't own or advocate for guns, like it or not, people indeed kill people (and animals), not guns. As the old saying goes, hurting people hurt people, and unfortunately, they have access to powerful technology, including firearms, which is another matter.

People are hurt because they are conditioned by their family of origin, which teachers, bosses, and lovers unintentionally (or intentionally) reinforce. Conditioning causes us to internalize our parents' unresolved shame and identify with a wounded, deficient sense of self. We strive to be somebody to compensate for feeling small, isolated and lonely. Enlarging our sense of self through achievements and material wealth becomes our overriding priority.

Other people become competition at best and unreal at worst.

Anytime we are unconscious and unaware of what we are doing and why, we are ignorant, living on autopilot. Making unconscious choices from a wounded ego, not conscious decisions from the heart, is always problematic, especially when we have access to powerful technology.

Before the internal combustion engine, people walked, rode horses or biked. Today, without irony, they can drive a kilometer to the gym and circle the parking lot, looking for the closest spot to the entrance.

The US government was failing miserably in Vietnam, but it stayed on, sure that it could turn things around. Sunk costs be damned, if we could free the world from the clutches of two superpowers, surely we could defeat a little-resourced country like Vietnam.

So what did we do?

We ran a staggering 34 million helicopter sorties and 16 million bombing runs and dropped 7.7 million tons (seven billion kilograms) of explosives, napalm and Agent Orange. That's three and a half times as much as was used in WWII. We still lost the war.

With only machetes, the death and environmental destruction would have been limited. But advanced technology coupled with unconscious, egoic forces within the powers allowed us to kill millions and destroy 14-44% of the country's forests.

If we act consciously from the heart, more technology will not necessarily accelerate destruction but will limit it.

So, what does all of this mean for us daily?

People quickly blame technology, but it is only an enabler, not the problem itself. Last week, the Wall Street Journal published "The Incredible Lightness of Being Without a Smartphone." A more appropriate title would be "The Incredible Lightness of Not Being Attached to a Smartphone."

Years ago, Michael Pollan brilliantly illustrated this dynamic. “The french fry did not become America's most popular vegetable until industry took over the jobs of washing, peeling, cutting, and frying the potatoes - and cleaning up the mess," he wrote. "Enjoy these treats as often as you're willing to prepare them - chances are good it won't be every day."

I lived about one mile (1.6 km) from my favorite coffee shop in my old neighborhood. Sure, I could have driven, but I chose to walk because it reduced waste, saved money and, most importantly, contributed to my well-being at least as much, if not more, than the coffee itself.

I don't claim to have answers. But to overcome a challenge, or at least minimize it, first, we must understand the cause.

In your hands, you have instant access to all the world's information, and the world has instant access to you. Just because you can read news from across the globe, binge-watch shows, and keep up with dozens of communication channels at all hours doesn't mean you need to or even want to.

Awareness is the antidote to unconscious forces driving our destructive behavior. Practice awareness lavishly.

Keep being aware,

Ryan

As beautiful as a horse, Stella (Pitbull/Rhodesian Ridgeback) is the most athletic, hyperactive dog I’ve sat, a force of nature.