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I forget the term, but technology is advancing at an exponential rate, racing towards a singularity point. I think new innovation is happening faster than ever and the social aspect of humanity cannot keep up with it, especially given that there are so many nations in the world where people are still living at a subsistence level.
When you have any advancement as Lewis Mumford pointed out only certain technologies are developed out of those that could be developed and while this is often due to material pressures it is also certainly due to social and political ones as well. Those technologies that benefit the ruling classes in our society are far more likely to be developed than those who serve no obvious benefit or perhaps even seem negative, by reducing their power,
Going back at least to Durkheim there is evidence that rapid sociological change, which technology certainly helps to bring about, often has a great negaitve effect on society. Technology and it developed can both be slowed down to what is best for society and it can become more democratic and controllable by average people all over the world. This is what needs to happen as we quickly enter a world where so many technological advances seem to offer new weapons to tyranny.