James Howard Kunstler Quotes

The most important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday.

I don't think any of us can do much about the rapid growth of new technology. A new technology helps to fuel the economy, and any discussion of slowing its growth has to take account of economic consequences. However, it is possible for us to learn how to control our own uses of technology.

What I'm trying to do is to at least raise a flag to the blinding light of technology.

I feel every technology can be abused, but fundamentally we put new technologies into the service of humanity.

We are much better at creating complex technologies than we are at controlling them.

In any discussion of technology, you hear the same argument: You can't turn the clock back and you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Maybe not. But there are steps we can take to limit the social harm caused by this industry, just like we do with others.

I think it's the responsibility of people in tech to find solutions.

Top technologists have a tremendous capacity - and, therefore, a tremendous responsibility - to build things that make a positive impact on the world.

If students get a sound education in the history, social effects and psychological biases of technology, they may grow to be adults who use technology rather than be used by it.

So one begins to wonder what is going to happen to the human race. Technology keeps on advancing with greater and greater power, either for good or for destruction.

Technologists provide tools that can improve people's lives. But I want to be clear that I don't think technology by itself improves people's lives, since often I'm criticized for being too pro-technology. Unless there's commensurate ethical and moral improvements to go along with it, it's for naught.

Technology is an interesting subject, people thinking: how much good, and how much bad, does it inherently carry?

Technology is mostly a force for good, but it has its downsides, too. I want my students - and my readers - to be intelligently skeptical about technology and be informed about the good and the not-so-good parts.

We cannot idealize technology. Technology is only and always the reflection of our own imagination, and its uses must be conditioned by our own values.

Technology itself is neither good nor bad. People are good or bad.

I think it's amazing when technology is used in a smart way, but the responsibility that comes with it... I think there's a lot of technology that we're using that we haven't thought through. It's a bit scary to put all your trust in technology and to think that that's what going to save us. We're going to have to make some compromises.

We cannot turn back the clock. We cannot undo the impact of technology. Nor would we want to.

Of course, technology is not an exogenous force over which humans have no control. We are not constrained by a binary choice between acceptance and rejection. Rather, the decisions we make every day as citizens, consumers, and investors guide technological progress.

When technological advancement can go up so exponentially, I do think there's a risk of losing sight of the fact that tech should serve humanity, not the other way around.

As one of the leaders in the world for AI, I feel tremendous excitement and responsibility to create the most awesome and benevolent technology for society and to educate the most awesome and benevolent technologists - that's my calling.

I guess I lean toward being an optimist, as far as improving tech being good for people, but that's not to say there are not potential downsides, and you have to stay aware of those downsides.

I used to have the very standard worldview. I can easily identify with people who see computers getting faster and smarter, and technology getting more and more beneficial, without seeing the other side.

I'm not anti-progress, obviously, but I just think progress needs to be a broader thing than just the technology we can create; it's also how we handle it and our level of awareness.

The problem isn't how to make the world more technological. It's about how to make the world more humane again.

Obviously, computers have made differences. They have fostered the development of spaceships- as well as a great increase in junk mail.