Programming

I've seen a few people recommend that book, I should check it out.

A way of thinking about tech that I've found interesting is what philosopher Bernard Stiegler refers to as "φάρμακον", or "pharmakon" (the greek root from where we get "pharmacy"). He uses the greek not just to be a pretentious arse, but because whilst it most directly translates to "medicine", pharmakon also can mean a poison or toxin. Stiegler argues that technology can be both helpful and harmful, often at once. It depends on how we use it. ^[1]

(I'm reminded here also of Cory Doctorow's discussion of reverse centaurs, because turning people into reverse centaurs is definitely the vibe of "pharmakon as poison". At the core of it, most people aren't being empowered by tech in our lives, and I really feel like we need a collective, radical recalibration around this. Books like "Digital Minimalism" certainly seem to be pushing towards that.

[1]: n.b. I am not a philosopher, nor have I actually directly read Stiegler, just a few people who draw on his work. One such person is Greta Goetz, an academic whose blog is great for people who like dense and wordy philosophy about tech and teaching.