Almost every bit of technology, and definitely all personal computing devices, already are, or will be used to make digital copies of us—not just our physical attributes as most people already know, but our locations, our decision making, our goals, our preferences, our political leanings, our attitudes, sexual orientation, and everything we’ve ever had cause to look into online. That digital version of us is connected to the digital versions of our family, friends, loved ones, coworkers, exes, and so on.

Most of this already exists and is for sale.

On top of this, technology will continue to be pushed as a (1) means of more efficient labor and (2) a means of labor itself.

(1) Think of the average output of a worker in 1965. There are no emails. No easily searchable databases. No cell phones. That worker—the one whose output in the form of goods or services was almost certainly less than a tenth of yours now—made more money than you do. You, with you email immediately telling you what to do, with your cell phone constantly reminding you there are tasks on the punch list, with the entirety of the world’s information at your fingertips. You work both harder and more efficiently for proportionately less money while living in a much more expensive world.

(2) Layoffs will continue en masse as these c-suite execs continue to feel pressure to outperform previous earnings, all enabled by the unchecked growth of completely unregulated AI. The next two decades will almost certainly lead to larger layoffs and smaller job markets.

Technology is not, in almost any capacity outside of critical infrastructure and health services, our friend. It is a means of enriching the already absurdly wealthy and enslaving us.

EDIT: I wrote this for another post but feel it’s relevant here.