7 ways the technology sector could support global society in 2022 - JackOfAllTechs.com

Some of the excesses of 2021 have shown us how digital technologies can undermine what philosophers call future "human flourishing." A lot has been written on this topic in the first few days of the new year, but take two examples -- MIT Technology Review's list of the worst excesses of technology and Fast Company's 5 best and worst tech moments of 2021 -- and it's evident how little power people affected by technologies have when things go wrong under current systems. What's also clear as we enter 2022 is that global tolerance for technology's unchecked disruption of societal institutions, conventions, and values is waning. This is the year governments will pass legislation to control the effects of digital technologies on societies, across many jurisdictions and in relation to numerous existing and emergent technologies. The EU AI and Digital Services Acts, the UK Online Safety Bill, and the US SAFE TECH Act are just a few of the efforts underway. Legislation is a marker of societal concern, but it's also clear that non-specialist, "ordinary" people have an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the relationship between technology and society.