# Get Your Why before AI: Technology is The How, Not the Why or What

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/singularity-fm-1654370/get-your-why-before-ai-technology-is-the-how-not-the-why-or-what
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/singularity-fm-1654370/get-your-why-before-ai-technology-is-the-how-not-the-why-or-what.md
Podcast: [Singularity.FM](https://stenobird.com/podcast/singularity-fm-1654370)
Published: 2024-05-23T15:05:03+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/singularity1on1/technology-is-the-how
Audio file: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1828643883-singularity1on1-technology-is-the-how.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/singularity-fm-1654370/episodes/get-your-why-before-ai-technology-is-the-how-not-the-why-or-what
Duration seconds: 420

## Resource

Technology is the new religion, Silicon Valley – the new Promised Land, and entrepreneurs – the new prophets. They promise a future of abundance and immortality—a techno-heaven beyond our wildest dreams. And we are all believers. We often forget technology is the how, not the why or what. It is a means to an end, not an end in itself. ‘Technology’ comes from two Greek words: ‘techne,’ meaning art, skill, or craft, and ‘logos,’ meaning word, discourse, or expression. Literally, technology means ‘discourse about the way things are achieved.’ Today, we have strayed from this original meaning, leading to a fundamental shift in perception. Technology is no longer a means to an end; it has become an end in itself. People often say, “I am a big believer in technology,” as if it were a deity. This mindset blurs the line between using technology and worshipping it. I am a huge fan and user of technology, but I do not worship it. Worship leads to mindless slavery, and I want to master technology, not be enslaved by it. However, our civilization may already be on a different path. In the past, actions were often justified as ‘God’s will.’ Today, we act because ‘technology wants it.’ The inevitability once attributed to divine will is now ascribed to technological progress. [Philip K. Dick wisely noted, “Just because something bears the aspect of the inevitable, one should not go along willingly with it.”] Just as fulfillment in Christianity comes from following God, today we ‘follow’ technology. But in both cases, this can lead to enslavement. Are we masters, or merely tools of our tools? Are we fetishizing technological objects, creating personality cults around techno-prophets, and falling for new techno-religions? As Nassim Taleb remarked, “The difference between technology an…

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