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2021 The Architecture of Innovation and The Urgency of Now

The document discusses how technology and society influence each other in a two-way relationship. It provides examples of how technological innovations like phones, airplanes, and the internet were developed in response to societal needs, but also acknowledges that technology has changed society in both positive and negative ways. The COVID-19 pandemic is used as an example of an event that disrupted global systems but also accelerated technological adoption out of urgency, though not without negative impacts especially on vulnerable populations. The document questions whether the priorities and decisions made during the pandemic adequately considered all sections of society.

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Gul Bahor
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17 views3 pages

2021 The Architecture of Innovation and The Urgency of Now

The document discusses how technology and society influence each other in a two-way relationship. It provides examples of how technological innovations like phones, airplanes, and the internet were developed in response to societal needs, but also acknowledges that technology has changed society in both positive and negative ways. The COVID-19 pandemic is used as an example of an event that disrupted global systems but also accelerated technological adoption out of urgency, though not without negative impacts especially on vulnerable populations. The document questions whether the priorities and decisions made during the pandemic adequately considered all sections of society.

Uploaded by

Gul Bahor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2021

IN CONSTANT CHANGE
BY TANYA SANDEEP GUPTA FROM INDIA

The Architecture of Innovation


Does technology influence society? We would answer yes. We can see how new
technological products influence our way of living constantly. The invention of
phones prevents the need for using humans as messengers to deliver letters. The
airplane allows us to travel across continents within hours. This saves us time for
travel, but increases the time we spend on our laptops for work. We barely need to
walk even for food – we can get it delivered directly to our doorstep. This has led to
increased consumption of processed foods, reduced exercising and hence
obesity. Social media was originally built to bring people closer together and
connect internationally with their loved ones. But it is now building pockets of echo
chambers that are changing the very fabric of our society.

Now, the next question is, does society influence technology? For this question
too, our answer would be yes. The fear of Earth being overtaken by horse dung led
to the invention of the car. The world wars led to inventions like Radar, Computers
and Microwaves. The need for humans to access information quickly led to the
internet. There were too many people dying due to different diseases, which
resulted in the invention of vaccines. Every innovation that has happened was due
to a certain NEED in the society that was to solve.

This two-way interaction between technology and society demonstrates that we


are existing in a loop. Thanks to modern medicine, the average person is living
longer than ever before. But the quality of life for majority of our lives is spent on
machines and medicines, implying that even though the life span might be up, the
health span is down. People today are increasingly suffering from depression,
anxiety and suicide. We don’t deal with discomforts like having to find food, water
and shelter like our ancestors. But we deal with the consequences of our comforts
brought upon by technology – long term physical and mental health problems.
2021
We need to find a way to improve the impact technology has on society, while
reducing the negative effects of the exact same invention. Human-centric design,
technology policy and the ethics of emerging technology remain topics of
discussion that are the need of the hour to ensure a better future. Policy needs to
pre-empt and predict the impact of technology to better ensure the privacy and
side effects of technology on society remain under supervision and in control.

The Urgency of Now


With all the advances humans claim to have made in the field of medicine, the
coronavirus pandemic is a demonstration of how powerless we are in the face of
nature, forced to lock ourselves in our houses of glass against an enemy we cannot
even see. The pandemic led to a collapse of global economy as the supply chains
were disrupted, travel outside of homes was forbidden and businesses were shut
down. Combatting the pandemic became the most "important" and "urgent"
objective of all nations to resume normal life. Despite the economic tumult wrought
by the coronavirus, startup investing in the U.S. reached a record high of $130
billion in 2020. Industries like Fintech, artificial intelligence, digital health and
medical devices saw large amounts of investment by private equity funds. These
and more contributed to allowing smooth transitioning of workers from office life to
work from home, permitting them to travel safely, and do booking without leaving
their house.

But as we see the increased amount of funding poured by private players into
these startups, we have also lost sight of our objectives in the long term. Poverty,
access to education, gender equality all took a backseat. The number of
COVID-19-induced new poor in 2020 rose to between 119 and 124 million.
Education paused for a few months before transitioning to a digital medium. This
leaves out the millions of students who did not have access to a digital device. Stay
safe at home was the motto of the pandemic. But what about those for whom home
is not a safe space? There was an increase in cases of domestic violence in the
range of 30-50% across various countries (Spain, Brazil).
2021
It is now going to take us years to reach back to the 2019 levels. This brings up
the question – did we choose correctly by prioritizing lockdowns over school? Did
we make a mistake prioritizing work from home over travel, which allowed the rich
to sit comfortably at home while gig workers clamored for work? Who is the “we” that
got to make decisions? Why did that “we” choose the decisions they did? Were the
negative impacts on the weaker sections of society worth it? Somewhere, somehow,
I believe the meaning of the words “urgent” and “important” were lost in translation.

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