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> First Law: “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”

In recent years I feel like I've gone from being a technology optimist – believing that technology in itself is somehow a force for good – to lying somewhere closer to Kranzberg's first law. While technology can occasionally be used for good, for example to give power to vulnerable groups, in the long term I think it usually just amplifies and ossifies existing power dynamics.

For some narrow definitions of technology, yes. But if we make space for not only internet thingies, such as new medicines, how are those not net-positive?
Of course! But that is one technology of many. The power dynamics that technology amplifies can be a net positive force, and often is. In other cases it’s a net negative, like new technologies to kill, oppress, etc. The point, which Kranzberg captures, is that technology as a phenomenon is not a good thing, just because it can be and often is used for good. We don’t get to pretend that technologies don’t exist in a larger social context.