New White Paper: In Tech We Trust
A new paper explores how technology became god, and asks what kind of inner shift might help us steer a wiser course
We’re happy to announce the release of a new white paper: In Tech We Trust: the god-like authority of technology in the modern age – and what it means to set a wiser course.
Modern humanity doesn’t simply make use of technology; we perceive the world in its image, and invest it with sacred authority to guide our choices. Now we’re approaching a precipice, with tech galloping ahead of our capacity to use it wisely. A new essay explores the foundations of these dysfunctional tendencies within the modern cultural paradigm, and considers the shifts in worldview and inner capacity that might support a future society to choose more wisely the forces we unleash.
This is the fifth paper in the Second Renaissance series; authored by Rufus Pollock, Rosie Bell and Sylvie Barbier (Life Itself Sensemaking Studio).
Summary
As far back as we can trace homo sapiens, we find evidence that technology has been part of human existence. But the speed and scale at which it shapes our lives today is unprecedented. Once a helpful servant, tech has become a dysfunctional master; a cultural ideology in its own right. It’s no longer an exaggeration to suggest that modern technology is a god - commanding faith, reverence and moral authority, and eclipsing human values in our collective choices. A residual faith in human reason sustains the illusion of freedom, while the tools we invite into our lives distort our attention, behaviour and relationship with each other and the world.
The acceleration of AI brings this pattern into sharp focus; fuelled by a race-to-the-bottom dynamic where competition overwhelms collective restraint.
Our collective action problems are rooted in a worldview of separateness - but there are other ways to see ourselves. The paradigm shift we need is intimated in the Buddhist concept of interbeing. The understanding that nothing exists in isolation contains, by extension, a simple truth: nobody wins a competition that ends in shared destruction.
A future society that survives its own technologies will understand that freedom depends not only upon choice, but the capacity to choose wisely - grounded in a fuller account of human nature, and our radical interdependency.
Join the webinar roundtable
Join us on Wednesday 18th March, 4:30-6pm GMT for a live roundtable discussion with the paper authors and invited experts in AI and social transformation*.
This roundtable will open a timely conversation:
Has technology become a kind of modern “god”?
How do modern assumptions — individualism, rationalism, materialism, and the myth of progress — shape our relationship with AI?
What might it mean to shift from out-of-control technological acceleration towards collective restraint?
Can a worldview grounded in interbeing — the recognition of radical interdependence — support wiser choices about the forces we unleash?
Rather than focusing only on governance, the discussion will examine the cultural paradigm shaping our technological era — and the inner capacities needed to navigate it well.
Join us as we ask not only what AI can do — but who we must become to live well with it.
*Guests to be announced