I started to write technology posts long ago – it would be over 13 years by now. And it was going great until a certain point, where, it seems, the focus had shifted, and it has kept shifting ever since.
Everything seems to be changing so fast around us that getting stuck on the technology is just not that interesting anymore. In the last 5 years, we’ve had:
- Covid pandemic. Irrespective of what you think of it, it has changed how we work, how we travel, it has also shown how divisive some issues can be, and how “science”, to a large extent, is still a form of faith (since, otherwise, why would everyone be arguing about the isolation/vaccination/etc).
- Then we had, and still have, a huge escalation between Russia and Ukraine. I’ll refrain from calling it anything else, but, as one of the many outcomes, we’ve been presented with a painfully clear view of how there is no unity at all among the world nations.
- Then 2025 hit, and we’ve been observing a yet another seemingly unbelievable thing, which is the USA essentially pulling itself out of the international agreements. I could never understand, by the way, how a country can live on those 4 years cycles – we are “left” for 4 years, we are “right” for 4 years. Apparently it takes longer than 4 years to see some of the initiatives through. This applies to Canada, too, btw.
- Then there is Canada with its underfunded military, extreme dependency on the US markets, and, yet, with the huge desire to look strong. Personally, I don’t care how it looks, it just needs to find a more practical approach than “elbows up”. Otherwise, maybe take an offer and make America great.
I can go on. Don’t want to.
But, of course, along with all of that, the whole concept of “common interests”, “shared ideals”, etc can probably be discarded now. Everyone is back to their caves, trying to protect what’s left, while America is trying to make itself great again, China is pushing forward, and other big players are simply enjoying the lack of rules (you’d think “greatness” is not something you “do to yourself”, btw, there has to be external recognition, and, right now, America’s reputation in the world is free falling… so what kind of greatness is that?)
Then there is AI threatening (or promising) to change the world – it’s just unclear whether that’s going to happen tomorrow or going to be delayed for a few more decades.
And every one of us is right in the middle of this. It’s not as if we were able to just close the door, shut off the news, and keep going about our lives. I mean we can try, of course, but, more likely than not, we are not going to be able to succeed in that. Given the number of things that have happened in the last few years, and given how the rate of those changes seems to be accelerating all the time, the changes will come to us whether we want them or not.
So… technology is certainly still interesting, but, somehow, trying to make sense of what’s happening “around” is slowly taking over. Has been, for a while.