"There are never purely technological solutions to...

"There are never purely technological solutions to societal problems."

Not sure why that particular quote has been on my mind today, but I ended up mocking it up in the style of some motivational posters.

I first heard the quote in @molly0xfff's "Blockchain solutionism" talk at the University of Texas in Austin, but I've seen other variations of it since then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0k_GjxuJDM

A motivational style poster that looks like a silkscreen print. It is a blue ink on vanilla paper. The text on the poster says "There are never purely technological solutions to societal problems". In the back ground of the poster are various clouds.

A photo of two black frames on a white wall. There is ornate white text on both signs. The top sign says ""There are never purely technological solutions" and the sign below it says "to societal problems"

Like 6 Dec 2022 at 1:19 | Open on mastodon.social

19 comments

DJM (freelance for hire)

@docpop Have seen it a few times, but don't remember where, and I know I wrote it down to reuse in posts I'm trying to finish writing on digital Africa...

6 Dec 2022 at 1:26 | Open on masto.ai

DJM (freelance for hire)

@docpop my simplified version (in my context) is "you can't eat digital"
"Le numérique ne se mange pas"

I use a different version when explaining digital transformation (not tech, but people)

6 Dec 2022 at 2:22 | Open on masto.ai

𝙿𝚒𝚡𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝔽𝕀𝕊𝕋

@cybeardjm @docpop I like your version because yours is accurate; the other is not.

6 Dec 2022 at 5:35 | Open on fosstodon.org

ehurtley

@docpop @molly0xfff Sure there are.

Societal problem: nazis

Technological solution: baseball bats

6 Dec 2022 at 5:24 | Open on pdx.social

Job

@ehurtley @docpop @molly0xfff The baseball bat won't swing itself though

6 Dec 2022 at 13:36 | Open on vis.social

çraux

@docpop @molly0xfff
If the social problems are created by technology though?

6 Dec 2022 at 6:13 | Open on hachyderm.io

Nika2022 🐶🎶🌞☕️

@cr0ax @docpop @molly0xfff nah....its always the people who order, scope, program and operate the tech.

6 Dec 2022 at 8:30 | Open on mas.to

Nika2022 🐶🎶🌞☕️

@cr0ax @docpop @molly0xfff tech is only a tool....always was and will be.
E.G. cavemen designed the first axe => Some used it to chop down small branches of trees while others....(TW so please fill in the gaps yourself).
Pretty similar logic can be applied today too (IMHO as usual

6 Dec 2022 at 8:37 | Open on mas.to

çraux

@Nika2022 @docpop @molly0xfff
Taking away the axe, is that a technical solution? Or now it's a social one actually?

Technical solutions create social problems but never fix them, is that the idea here?

6 Dec 2022 at 17:50 | Open on hachyderm.io

Marina :blobcatenby: :antifa:

@docpop @molly0xfff Fabulous typography and great aphorism! :clapping:

6 Dec 2022 at 6:18 | Open on masto.ai

Ben Curthoys

@docpop @molly0xfff Social solutions to technological problems - reordering society to work around failures of technology - also suck.

6 Dec 2022 at 6:57 | Open on mastodon.social

Kolman

@bencurthoys @docpop @molly0xfff

In a complex world, most first-order solutions usually fail...
Is far better to address the underlying conditions beneath... (second/nth order causality, sometimes nonlinear/wicked)

Unfortunately, the majority don't want/can't understand that...

6 Dec 2022 at 16:24 | Open on forall.social

autistic_enby :blobcatenby:

@pikolman @bencurthoys I felt that this was half of my job leading a small tech team in a growing startup.
I'd get all kinds of requests from operations and support teams, and I could either do what they asked and not really improve anything, or I can keep asking (like changing the exam question) until we arrive at an actual solution that improves our lives.

6 Dec 2022 at 21:48 | Open on mastodon.lol

Ben Curthoys

@autistic_enby @pikolman oh god the number of times I have had to say no to "a button here that does X". I listen to my customers when they tell me about their business needs, what they are trying to achieve, but their proposed solutions (usually a button that relies on the software being psychic) are almost always shit.

6 Dec 2022 at 21:54 | Open on mastodon.social

scott f

@docpop @molly0xfff get a union printer to print these and I'll buy one.

6 Dec 2022 at 7:19 | Open on carfree.city

Edward Clayton Andrews

@docpop
Tangental but related: I've often thought that some of the worst ideas with the best intentions come from trying to use one discipline to solve everything. Economics cannot solve everything. Neuroscience will not explain everything. We have many disciplines for a reason.
@molly0xfff @Ruth_Mottram