Ultimately what I was thinking about when reading What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly was that he made sense because he drew from many different systems to make analogies and explain his argument. I enjoyed reading his book because of the structure of explanation he used. This structure was essentially Kelly stating a definition of his argument and then trying to prove it through concrete examples. That was effective because he went to the root of the issue and held my hand by explaining everything thoroughly. Although, he has statements he makes that don’t feel fully backed up and therefore, at least for me, lose its power when trying to convince me. That’s essentially how I decided upon the provocations I was going to write about. I will include one idea that he brought up that is interesting and I agreed with and an idea that was provoking but that I found flaws with that perhaps were legitimate yet were irreconcilable for me.

The most striking concept that Kelly brings up is the comparability of technology and biological systems especially in terms of reproduction. He explains that the “technium can really only be understood as a type of evolutionary life” (45) and goes on to determine technology as a seventh kingdom of life. What I really found appealing about this notion is that it makes parallels between organic systems and technological ones. I never considered thinking about technology in this way where “computer scientists [are] using the principles of evolution to breed computer software” (9)  in order for programs to duplicate or self-assemble without people having to interfere in the system.  The example of the robot PR2 made at Stanford that could it has the “ability to find a power outlet and plug itself in” (11), essentially what the scientists have created is a code that makes the robot do this but it can make robots become to be self-sufficient. Kelly states that before technology – computer programs – was “merely parroting what we told it, but now it is more like a very complex organism that often follows its own urges”(13).

Whereas, I don’t really believe or I am not fully convinced of Kelly’s argument that “the greatest difference between the evolution of the born and the evolution of the made is that the species of technology, unlike the species in biology, almost never go extinct” (51). Although, he tries to prove his hypothesis through his categorical investigation into what is still being produced from the century’s catalogue of inventions and is successful, I just don’t want to believe him.  The concept of obsolescence of technology is real, especially as new digital and mechanical technologies are invented. Having to throw away a charger because they have made a new one for the phone you just purchased, is a real complication of technology. I don’t agree with the fact that technologies like steam powered cars are useful and should be considered not extinct, even if they can still be produced. In my view, if it isn’t being used popularly or regularly and is just ineffective compared to other new technologies, it should be considered extinct. However, I great point is brought up by Kelly when he mentions that there is a “virtue in doing things without oil-fed machinery” (55). This brings me to a point that was brought up in the introduction, that technology can obviously be beneficial in connecting our society and making us collaborate but it can also be detrimental. Now, there are many movements to regress – to use less technology – in certain areas, in order to make the negative consequences diminish, which includes urban and organic farming.

My discussion question ultimately is: What does technology want? Why is the title of this book what it is, and does it lay out what technology wants?  I watched Kevin Kelly’s 2005 TedTalk and he tried to explain it by saying that “It’s a way to explore possibilities and opportunities and create more. And it’s actually a way of playing the game, of playing all the games. That’s what technology wants.” In the presentation, he refers to the infinite game and how technology helps us redefine ourselves and this questioning is constant and shouldn’t stop. Do you agree that what technology wants to create more opportunities or is there another definition for what technology is seeking? 

Here is the link to the TedTalk, enjoy:

https://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_on_how_technology_evolves/transcript?language=en