A brief update about life

A funny video game example of a man who has lost himself to technology

I’ve always found the power of technology interesting. It can make us both superior and subordinate. We control its physical form while also being subjected to its invisible forces. The pursuit of newer tech also comes with the danger of its misuse. Technology has greatly evolved, but usually without foresight in its consequences on people (see: the dynamite and the Nobel Prize, the nuclear bomb and hit 2023 movie B̵a̵r̵b̵i̵e̵ Oppenheimer, Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica issue).

Over the years, I’ve learned that technology is easily abused under the wrong hands. Algorithms have been used for prejudice in many ways. Cryptocurrencies have shown that it benefits only the powerful. AI threatens to remove human intuition and creativity. It’s funny that media has warned us of this. Goethe warned us. Clarke and Kubrick warned us. Even Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame warned us. The writing is on the wall. But when will the acknowledgement start?

The protagonist, Solid Snake, being elusive. Unfortunately, the message of the game has eluded several others too.

I am (soon to be was) a software engineer, and I write code that (I think) helps people. I’ve worked in fintech to introduce financial inclusivity to lower-income communities and cybersec to protect high-profile targets from bad actors. Lately, I’ve been disenchanted with the developments of modern tech (shit like Axie Infinity only worsened things for less-privileged people). So, I’ve had a compelling want to be more active in connecting ideas to build better software. I want to be in the ideation stages of new tech to help turn the narrative of an ominous future around.

And so, I have decided to enrol in the University of Liverpool’s MSc Data Science and Communications programme. The university’s (quite insane) roster of professors in the field will help me study the effects of inhumane tech and learn ways to make tech work better for humans.

I know I am only one man* who wishes to make a difference in the apex of the AI revolution, but I believe I can contribute to the fight for digital compliance and, most importantly, digital ethics. This is just the first step, but I hope I can help weave a new narrative of an optimistic technological future.

So, instead of reflecting on themselves, they blamed the Beasts. Heaven or Hell..?

*my girlfriend was quite mad when I originally wrote, “I am only a single man”. I am, in fact, taken.