The Purpose of Technology

In general, when technology attempts to solve problems of matter, energy, space, or time, it is successful. When it attempts to solve human problems of the mind, communication, ability, etc. it fails or backfires dangerously.

For example, the Internet handled a great problem of space—it allowed us to communicate with anybody in the world, instantly. However, it did not make us better communicators. In fact, it took many poor communicators and gave them a massive platform on which they could spread hatred and fear. This isn’t me saying that the Internet is all bad—I’m actually quite fond of it, personally. I’m just giving an example to demonstrate what types of problems technology does and does not solve successfully.

The reason this principle is useful is that it tells us in advance what kind of software purposes or startup ideas are more likely to be successful. Companies that focus on solving human problems with technology are likely to fail. Companies that focus on resolving problems that can be expressed in terms of material things at least have the possibility of success.

There can be some seeming counter-examples to this rule. For example, isn’t the purpose of Facebook to connect people? That sounds like a human problem, and Facebook is very successful. But connecting people is not actually what Facebook does. It provides a medium through which people can communicate, but it doesn’t actually create or cause human connection. In fact, most people I know seem to have a sort of uncomfortable feeling of addiction surrounding Facebook—the sense that they are spending more time there than is valuable for them as people. So I’d say that it’s exacerbating certain human problems (like a craving for connection) wherever it focuses on solving those problems. But it’s achieving other purposes (removing space and time from broad communication) excellently. Once again, this isn’t an attack on Facebook, which I think is a well-intentioned company; it’s an attempt to make an objective analysis of what aspects of its purpose are successful using the principle that technology only solves physical problems.

This principle is also useful in clarifying whether or not the advance of technology is “good.” I’ve had mixed feelings at times about the advance of technology—was it really giving us a better world, or was it making us all slaves to machines? The answer is that technology is neither inherently good nor bad, but it does tend towards evil when it attempts to solve human problems, and it does tend toward good when it focuses on solving problems of the material universe. Ultimately, our current civilization could not exist without technology, which includes things like public sanitation systems, central heating, running water, electrical grids, and the very computer that I am writing this essay on. Technology is in fact a vital force that is necessary to our existence, but we should remember that it is not the answer to everything—it’s not going to make us better people, but it can make us live in a better world.

-Max

21 Comments

  1. So what would be an example of a technology that was intended to solve a human problem and is now making the world a worse place?

    • Burning fossil fuel, for example, doesn’t it cause pollution and global warming. Dumping chemicals into river pollutes water and kill millions of fish which in turn destroys water ecosystem. Basically, all pollutions are caused by technology (light, sound, water, air, etc.)

  2. Hello Max,

    The post is good, but I was expecting more illustration about this topic. There are more definitely more example of harmful technology including facebook, tweeter or other social media. For this, we should not try to solve problems of human mind through technology. We can use meditation as a way of bringing piece in our mind. But, technology is only useful for inanimate objects.

  3. Technology is now in to everything, but there are few things that needs to be left alone. For e.g. Driver-less cars. I enjoy driving and I am in no mood to give up that steering wheel to some damn software codes. My apprehensions are not for the safety, rather the driving pleasure than one will miss. I can see that few years down the line, many manufacturers will jump in to this Driver-less car bandwagon. I hope that day never comes. Just my two cents.

  4. The consumer technology being developed today isn’t necessarily always looking to solve big problem as it is trying to create marketable products. There are also just fewer problems to solve! (This is true at least for developed countries where most innovation occurs.) This leads to less “world shattering technology” reaching the market. This MIT Tech Review post also looks at this question: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/429690/why-we-cant-solve-big-problems/.

    P.S. Great, thoughtful post!

  5. Great article! My teacher recommended this and I actually got a lot of my answers from here. Many things can be learned from this. I have to do a genius hour project and my question was how technology changed the human body. The purpose of technology is a great subject to study on too. Read this and benefit from it. Thanks.

  6. Great article! My teacher recommended this and I actually got a lot of my answers from here. Many things can be learned from this. I have to do a genius hour project and my question was how technology changed

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