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A Spiralling Revolution – Technology, Culture and Crisis

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Technology has taken over every aspect of our lives. Such has been the prevailing sentiment of recent headlines on everything from culture to finance to law and politics. Expectedly, they reflect a curious mix of excitement at the possibilities technology may offer to better the world, coupled with deep-seated anxiety around the seemingly unfettered growth of its power and influence over our lives. On closer examination, however, it becomes evident that in most contexts, the term technology functions as a floating signifier – indicating specificity while also being capacious enough to encompass multiple possible meanings. And if the term technology itself is fluid, then what does it mean for us to believe that it holds the ability to transform not merely our individual lives but the societies we live in, the systems under which we work and ultimately take over our most fundamentally human ability – our capacity for creative expression.
 

Perhaps the question to ask ourselves now is not how we may define this all-encompassing term, but rather how we have come to bestow it with its power, and what it would mean to demystify it. After all, technology itself is a product of collective human ingenuity, made possible by generations of scientists, artists, designers, scholars, workers as well as users. And while the unprecedented rise of the technology industry over the last three decades in particular has led to revolutionary advances in every field from medicine to communication to art, we now seem to have arrived at a precipice of sorts. As the influence of artificial intelligence becomes more ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives, decentralised blockchains get touted as the way forward for our financial systems, and a select few mega-corporations financing and controlling these technologies gain ever greater power, the rights of a vast majority of workers – particularly those in creative industries – are increasingly eroded in the name of technological progress. 
 

Over a ten-session lecture series, this online edition of the ACT programme at Jnanapravaha Mumbai brings together scholars, scientists, artists, curators and writers at the cutting edge of research, innovation and critical engagement with technology. Together with a global cohort of participants, the series aims to illuminate some of the complexities surrounding a clearer understanding of this dynamic field and its impact, while providing a platform for an open conversation on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.