In the glittering halls of Silicon Valley, where dreams are woven from bits and bytes, a dangerous illusion has taken root. It’s a seductive whisper, a siren song that promises salvation through silicon chips and lines of code. They call it techno-optimism, but make no mistake – it’s a gilded cage, trapping us in a world where progress is measured in gigahertz (GHz) and megapixels, while the very fabric of our society frays at the edges.
                                                                   

The gleaming promises of techno-optimism echo the grand visions of yesteryear’s World’s Fairs and retro-futuristic dreams. Just as we once marvelled at visions of flying cars and robot butlers, we now swoon over AI utopias and blockchain revolutions. But like the jetpacks and moon colonies that never materialized, many of today’s techno-promises may prove equally elusive. Remember the “Kitchen of the Future” from the 1950s? It promised to liberate housewives but ended up selling more appliances than freedom. Today’s tech prophets peddle similar dreams of digital liberation, but often deliver addictive apps and surveillance capitalism instead. History teaches us to be wary of such grandiose visions – for every promise of a better tomorrow, there’s often a hidden cost or an unforeseen consequence lurking in the shadows of progress.

Let’s peel back the shiny veneer, shall we? Take self-driving cars, those gleaming chariots of the future. We’re told they’ll end traffic jams and save lives. But what about the millions of truck drivers and taxi drivers who’ll find themselves obsolete, tossed aside like outdated smartphones? And what of the mountains of electronic waste we’re creating, poisoning our land and water in our relentless pursuit of the next big thing?
                                                                     

But why, you might ask, is this techno-optimism so pervasive? Follow the money, dear reader. Tech giants and venture capitalists aren’t selling us gadgets; they’re selling us dreams – dreams that conveniently line their pockets. Remember Facebook’s role in the 2016 US election? While we were busy sharing cat videos, their algorithms were reshaping reality, prioritizing engagement over truth, profits over democracy.

And oh, how we love our shiny new toys! Artificial intelligence, blockchain – the buzzwords roll off our tongues like honey. But while we’re distracted by the razzle-dazzle, who’s minding the store? Remember Theranos and its miraculous blood tests? We were so eager to believe in a medical revolution that we forgot to ask the hard questions. The result? Lives ruined, trust shattered.

But the damage goes deeper still. Our obsession with technology is ripping apart the very fabric of our society. Social media, once hailed as a great unifier, has become a breeding ground for hate and misinformation. The gig economy, enabled by apps like Uber, has turned workers into modern-day serfs, stripped of rights and security.

So what’s the solution? We need to wake up from this techno-induced slumber. We need to look at technology not through rose-tinted VR goggles, but with clear eyes and sharp minds. Yes, technology can do wonderful things, but it can also cause tremendous harm. We need our policymakers and regulators to step up, to shape the future instead of being shaped by it.

In the end, dear reader, remember this: technology is a tool, not a savior. It’s up to us to decide how to use it. Will we continue to be dazzled by the glitter of techno-optimism, or will we dare to imagine a future where technology serves humanity, not the other way around? The choice, as always, is ours.

About the author: Yannick Nesta Pessoa, B.A., Jamaica’s First Blogger, is a Journalist, History and Social Studies Teacher, Community Activist, Artist and Entrepreneur. Reach Yannick on X (“Twitter”) and Instagram at @yahnyk or by email: yannickpessoa@yahoo.com.

ART & COMMODITY thanks Internet sites Britannica, travelfilmarchive, choiker.com and youtube.com for making available images and film of the 1884-85 Berlin Conference, World Fairs in San Francisco (Golden Gate International) and Lisbon (Portuguese World) in 1939 and 1940, as well as the Exposition internationale de la technique de l’eau de 1939 in Liège, Belgium.