What type of technology optimist are you?
Pop-quiz hot-shot! Answer the questions and we'll tell you what your blind spots may be.
As a bonus, we'll recommend a movie.
This quiz does not collect any data in any way.
1/8. Who said it best?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indiscernable from magic - Arthur C. Clarke
It has become appalingly obvious that technology has exceeded our humanity. - Albert Einstein
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan Kay
The best way to invent the future is to predict it. - John Perry Barlow
2/8. Who should lead in managing technology?
Technology can not really be stopped. Disruption is the whole point.
Governments should create regulation.
Citizens should decide themselves, they need more awareness and knowledge to make informed decisions.
Public-private partnerships can create self-regulation. Certificates and code of conduct is what we need. The industry is closest to the technology, they know best.
3/8. When will conciousness-level artificial intelligence appear?
In the next few decades - and we'll merge with it.
In the next few decades - and we are not preparing well enough.
Before 2100
After 2100, maybe never
4/8. What best describes the story of history?
Technology is rife with dead-ends - society often says 'no' to technologies, like nuclear power, or just isn't ready. It's messy.
Technology is something we must overcome, as we are blind to the downsides. Easter island culture destroyed their own forest. Global warming may do the same on a global scale.
After slow development at first technology is now developing exponentially. The impact is getting harder to predict.
Technology is often a catalyst for new developments. The printing press shifted who was in power, and helped spread new ideas.
5/8. How do you feel about deploying algorithms?
While humans often make choices on a whim, in the long run algorithms, after some tweaking, are neutral.
Algorithms can be very useful, but the more their decisions impact the lives of people, the more we need to analyse how they work.
Algorithms hide the politics of choices we make behind the seemingly neutral facade of math. Saying "an algorithms made the decision" hinders critical investigation, for example when people are let go from a job based on how an algorithm judges their work.
in the long run, algorithms are rarely an advantage. They create a false sense of security, and make us forget that the most important things in life - love, creativity - cannot be measured.
6/8. What is your favorite social network?
I don't trust social networks, but there just aren't any good privacy-friendly alternatives.
I have fun trying the new networks. Facebook, insta. The positive far outweighs the bad.
I've increasingly started to use things like Whatsapp instead of online platforms.
I don't use social networks (anymore). I'm not so sure I'd qualify them as 'social' at all. The pub or the club is where I go.
7/8. How do you feel about online advertisements?
I swear it sometimes feels like they are listening in on me, it's freaky.
I get free apps and services in return for watching ads, and new technologies are even making them more relevant to me.
I think we badly need regulation that forces companies like Facebook and Google to allow me to pay for their services with money if I prefer.
I block them because they are just everywhere now.
8/8. Where's the real innovation at?
Governments - They decide what fundamental research gets funded, and fund the tech with the biggest influence, like the internet itself.
Citizens. Tinkerers often inspire businesses. For example, the blockchain was born from a citizen's mind.
Business. Making cheaper and better things and services democratises technology.
Academics. It's all about fundamental research. All the rest is just implementaton.
Go!