The Future of Fixing Technology
327 | Thu 31 Jul 5:30 p.m.–6:15 p.m.
Presented by
-
Denver Gingerich
https://ossguy.com/
Denver is a software right-to-repair and standards activist who is currently Director of Compliance at Software Freedom Conservancy, where he enforces software right-to-repair licenses such as the GPL, and is also a director of the worker co-operative that runs JMP.chat, a FOSS phone number (texting/calling) service. Denver writes free software in his spare time: his patches have been accepted into Wine, Linux, and wdiff. Denver received his BMath in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. He gives presentations about digital civil rights and how to ensure FOSS remains sustainable as a community and financially, having spoken at conferences such as FOSSY, SCALE, the Canadian Repair Convention, FOSDEM, SFSCON, CopyleftConf, LibrePlanet, LinuxCon North America, CopyCamp Toronto, FOSSLC's Summercamp, and the Open Video Conference.
Denver Gingerich
https://ossguy.com/
Abstract
Computers and the internet had the potential to neutralize existing power structures and bring true equality in access to knowledge and the ability to control technology to the masses. While some power structures have changed, new ones have emerged that threaten to undo the very fabric of modern society. These new power structures promote misinformation, put control of technology in the hands of an elite few, and prevent the masses from customizing or improving the devices that they rely on to communicate with the rest of the world.
In the early days of the internet, there was a feeling of excitement about its endless possibilities. There was a sense that it could indeed give us unfettered access to the best information available, and we could use that to improve our technology and our lives. However, events like the Eternal September and many less defined epochs showed that the internet on its own could not maintain its utopic promise. We needed a plan, a way of standing up to power structures and other influences, one that put critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and user agency at the forefront.
The future of fixing our technology and adapting it to each of our individual unique needs and preferences could go a few different ways. In this talk, we'll explore the history of fixing our technology, where we're at now, and what it will take to make this individualized technology future a reality.
Among other topics, we'll discuss "the plan" for getting there, laying out a few concrete steps that we'll need to take to get where we want to go. Along the way we'll talk about how power structures get dismantled and rebuilt through technological change, and how we can collectively temper the seemingly inevitable swings between different factions of the wealthy elite controlling technology relied upon and available to the masses, so that we eventually approach the asymptote of actual freedom and agency in the computing realities of the average user.
Computers and the internet had the potential to neutralize existing power structures and bring true equality in access to knowledge and the ability to control technology to the masses. While some power structures have changed, new ones have emerged that threaten to undo the very fabric of modern society. These new power structures promote misinformation, put control of technology in the hands of an elite few, and prevent the masses from customizing or improving the devices that they rely on to communicate with the rest of the world. In the early days of the internet, there was a feeling of excitement about its endless possibilities. There was a sense that it could indeed give us unfettered access to the best information available, and we could use that to improve our technology and our lives. However, events like the Eternal September and many less defined epochs showed that the internet on its own could not maintain its utopic promise. We needed a plan, a way of standing up to power structures and other influences, one that put critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and user agency at the forefront. The future of fixing our technology and adapting it to each of our individual unique needs and preferences could go a few different ways. In this talk, we'll explore the history of fixing our technology, where we're at now, and what it will take to make this individualized technology future a reality. Among other topics, we'll discuss "the plan" for getting there, laying out a few concrete steps that we'll need to take to get where we want to go. Along the way we'll talk about how power structures get dismantled and rebuilt through technological change, and how we can collectively temper the seemingly inevitable swings between different factions of the wealthy elite controlling technology relied upon and available to the masses, so that we eventually approach the asymptote of actual freedom and agency in the computing realities of the average user.