logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2014
28m 1s

Intent

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Aleks Krotoski looks at whether we've all become techno-fundamentalists. Do we know what all our technology is for or more intriguingly what it wants?

Aleks hears from Douglas Rushkoff about how the whole of the world around us has always been programmed by architects, religion, and politics. But it's something we seem to have forgotten about technology itself.

Tom Chatfield discusses how the biases of technology (the things it naturally tends towards or is best at) interplay with human nature to turn much of our interaction with technology into some sort of perverse game.

But some of these biases like the end use of technology only emerge once people start to use it. Kevin Kelly is one of the world's most respected commentators on technology he believes that the biases of all our technology put together start to combine so that it behave very much like an organism. His provocative theories are detailed in his book What does Technology want?

We explore these theories by discussing our biggest technologies; the city and whether the latest innovations aiming to make our city's smarter and more sustainable hint at a better future relationship with the world of technology.

Up next
Feb 2024
Update from the Digital Human Team
The Digital Human is pausing to focus on what everyone's talking about - AI. Join Aleks and her co-host Kevin Fong for The Artifical Human from BBC Radio 4, listen on BBC Sounds. 
1m 7s
Nov 2023
Reminiscence
‘I asked myself this very question after a family member was affected by dementia. In her later years, the only person my grandmother still remembered was her husband – but he had passed away several years earlier. She asked about him every morning and finding out that he had die ... Show More
29m 4s
Nov 2023
Permanence
Aleks Krotoski explores a story which sought to be forgotten, but wasn't. Agrippa (A Book of the Dead), was published in 1992. It was a book designed to decay from its very first use. It was an unusual conceit, and played into our fears about malfunctioning technology ahead of th ... Show More
27m 57s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2023
Is technology our savior — or our slayer? | Ruha Benjamin
When it comes to technology, we're often presented with two contrasting visions of the future: one where technology fulfills all our desires, and another where it leads to chaos and conflict. Sociologist Ruha Benjamin is here with a more radical vision of the future — one where h ... Show More
16m 20s
Jul 2023
Remote touch
We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, s ... Show More
27m 13s
May 2022
Tech in the Great Outdoors
We often think of technology as stuff that keeps us sitting at home, wired to our phones or computers or game systems. But there's an entire world of technology designed to inspire you to get outside and go exploring. We look at how tech can play a part in getting back to nature. ... Show More
32m 17s
May 2020
Technology’s Role in Supporting the Very Human Need to Create
Georg Petschnigg doesn’t think of himself as purely a designer, yet he has spent a career building products like Paper and Paste that helps us all create more beautiful things in the course of our work and fun. “It’s human potential,” says Petschnigg. “It’s always been about augm ... Show More
11m 33s
Dec 2020
#49 Technology
In this episode of The Teachify English Podcast, in honour of the topic, technology, Will and Lewis have a chat on Zoom and discuss a range of questions related to tech.  Remember to check out the difficult vocabulary and try to answer the comprehension questions. What did Will s ... Show More
20m 13s
Apr 2024
The TED AI Show - Coming May 21st
AI is changing every aspect of life – work, relationships, culture, art. But how will we navigate this new world? Host Bilawal Sidhu chats with the world’s leading experts, artists, journalists, and beyond, to guide you through the promises and perils of this powerful ever-evolvi ... Show More
1m 12s
Jul 2019
199. Is Tech Making Us- Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid?
Is technology really rotting our brains, destroying our society... or is that what everyone has always worried about with every technological advance, going back to tv, or telephones, or even writing letters? The new book, Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Changing Feelings about Tec ... Show More
39m 29s
Sep 2023
Can technology read our mind?
How does our brain process language? We speak to an expert who is using technology to turn narrative thoughts into text. Also on the show, what is happening in our brains when we switch languages? And what are the positives and perils of technology and translation?Also on the sho ... Show More
50m 44s
Dec 2023
Connecting people
Tech Life looks at ways to connect people. We examine the mobile phone usage gap. What is it and can it be narrowed ? And how do you shop online if you have no official address? Our reporter in Brazil finds out. Also, we look at the company saving billions of litres of drinking w ... Show More
27m 18s
Dec 2023
Michael Wooldridge on AI and sentient robots
Humans have a long-held fascination with the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a dystopian threat: from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, through to the Terminator movies.But somehow, we still often think of this technology as 'futuristic': whereas in fact, it's already woven in ... Show More
37m 55s