#4 Musings

Hi everyone,

While inspecting multiple open homes today, I was thinking about technology and the existential threat it faces humanity as a whole. Now, I am not suggesting that technology is inherently negative but the fact that life changing tech is moving so quickly can mean society as a whole can't keep up to steer the ship, so to speak.

The world is such a different even just a decade ago. The advent and proliferation of mobile and the connective technologies has meant fundamental changes to how we interact with others and consume content. The concentration of power in a relatively small amount of (primarily) us based tech companies means that quite a small proportion of western people control speech, moderation and censorship. Control maybe too strong a word but certainly a strong influence.

I think we need to be more careful about those powerful relationships and critically deconstruct some of those motives. These discussions currently happening in the US around section 230 and moderation on platforms needs to be closely followed because it could ultimately decide how big (and even more powerful) these giant global spanning corporations could get.

I don't necessarily agree with the direction Australia is taking in specific response to Google and Facebook and news corporations, but having more regulation to ensure that the best interests of Australians are kept at the forefront is essential.

Till the next one,

B