Assume You’re the Villain
A reflection on the responsibility of change makers
Thanos wasn’t right.
As a general rule, genocide’s a hard no — no matter how you spin it.
But on the need to address the gross imbalances he witnessed as a citizen of the universe, he did have a point.
Now I’m sure you’re wondering:
Jael exactly where you going with this thought train today?
And to that I’m just gonna ask you to bear with me I promise I have a point.
A peak behind the curtain
But first, I just finished binge watching Silicon Valley this week, and rousing satire and ethical implications of several of the questions posed throughout the series aside, there was one thing in particular that drew my attention.
In the first season Richard and the Pied Piper crew end up in a tech showcase which is supposed to give them both exposure to venture capitalists as well as the world for their tech. Like a science fair for grownups — but instead of ribbons and medals, you win imaginary money and the illusion of future relevance.
Note: The goal of the fair isn’t to explain your tech, it’s to make a VC feel like they just saw the second coming of Steve Jobs. Bonus points if it makes zero sense but looks good in a demo.
What caught my attention during the competition though was that every single participant, including our main characters pitched their idea, no matter how non sensical (one project literally wanted to end global warming by air frying our skin so we wouldn’t have the need for heaters anymore) as a way to “change the world”. Which isn’t a bad thing, our world’s got some pretty big issues that absolutely need to be solved. But if everyone’s out here trying to change the world in wildly different directions, and no one’s pausing to consider the long-term consequences, then we’re not evolving — we’re just tugging reality in a million different directions until it rips.
But if everyone’s out here trying to change the world in wildly different directions, and no one’s pausing to consider the long-term consequences, then we’re not evolving — we’re just tugging reality in a million different directions until it rips.
The Wizards and Us
Ok Jael, so what you saying, you don’t want the nerds to change the world?
No. That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying that we need to spend less time trying to come up with the latest and greatest illusion or trick and instead try to adopt a futuristic mindset in which we consider what impact those changes may have on us and the generations to come.
And I’m also saying we shouldn’t assume that because we came up with this world-changing technology or system or process that we will be looked at by those in the future as heroes.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. So many villain arcs begin with them trying to rectify some egregious wrong (see the Thanos opening of this meditation) and they end up tipping the scales of justice so far in the opposite direction that they become the problem. And we don’t even have to look at theoreticals anymore, look at some of the real world players currently pitching themselves as our saviors.
Take my personal nemesis Elon Musk for example, I’m sure in his head, he sees himself as the guy getting us to Mars. How dare we not worship at his feet while he bungles the present to reach his fantasy future? Never mind the Twitter fiasco, the hostile government takeover, or that Tesla’s basically a luxury paperweight if the software fails — he’s rich and loud, so he must be our hero. Right?
Thinking about Tomorrow Today
So what Jael, you want us to just give up on being heroes are something?
Not at all. I’m saying we need to learn from our predecessors and do better. As a millennial I am no stranger to the idea of blaming the previous generation for cocking things up so bad we never even had a shot. So I want us to do something different. Assume the future generations are going to blame us for whatever clusterfuck unfolds from this time period. I mean we do live in genuinely unprecedented times right now. Hell venture capitalists are THROWING money at blockchain, crypto, artificial intelligence and apps galore. But those some things being funded are literally reshaping the landscape of the world and I can’t tell exactly whether or not it is for the better. Did Mark Zuckerberg know when he was just tinkering around with an idea he copped from the Winklevi that the company he created would not only be a data aggregation tool but also committing vast privacy infringing crimes on a regular basis so that he could keep climbing the billionaire list? Did Larry Page and Sergey Brin know that they would have created a tool that not only allows knowledge to be at our fingertips but also create a monstrous privacy infringing tool that reorders search rankings for knowledge based on location and advertiser preference essentially creating a bias in education and subsequently worsening the quality of ai training data because of it so the company can keep shareholders happy? Did Alex Karp know Palantir would essentially become the very tool (or at least the model or it) needed to create the futuristic police states that EVERY SINGLE SCIFI novel warned us about ad naseum? Probably. Alex probably knows and doesn’t care because seriously dude wtf?
Damage Control Is Imminent
My point is I don’t assume any of these Silicon Valley nerds are inherently good or evil but as they change the landscape of the world at large, there’s a significant amount of harm being created in the process. Whether it’s the damage from mining the rare earth minerals needed to create these products, the infringements on data and privacy, the damage from us becoming a computation heavy society without committing to more sustainable energy sources, the damage to the labor market from AI changing how we apply and get approved for jobs, AI removing certain jobs from the pool because they can complete the task for cheaper…and that’s just on the tech side. Don’t even get me started on the amount of blame incoming from the political side. Either way future generations are probably not only going to hate us but be pissed that we squandered their future air on that one meme that was just too hilarious not to share.
Life Beyond Thunderdome
Jeez Jael, what the hell did you put in your coffee this morning?
I know, I know I’m diving off the deep end. But I can’t live with my head in the sand anymore. If these thoughts are occurring to me then it’s ethically irresponsible not to entertain them and even more so not to share them.
Especially since I’m potentially looking to enter the arena my damn self because I have some thoughts and I’d rather there be some diversity of experience in the room where our futures are being crafted instead of the monotonous sea of world changers just building cool shit because it interest them without stopping to ask a) should we build? Or b) what fresh hell will we unleash by doing so?
And honestly, I hope I’m not the only one. And if this thought train found you, you’re probably asking the same questions to. Care to join me in abandoning the hero track and instead helping the future move beyond thunder dome?
