Demystify Technology

One of the guiding principles of my teaching and in the development of this platform is the phrase “Demystify Technology”.

The Problem

When people learn about and discuss technology, they use inappropriate metaphors. Here’s an example: The “cloud” as a symbol for the Internet. A cloud is light, gaseous, floating. And today it almost seems as if the Internet is “simply in the air”.

That’s a myth. The “cloud” consists of buildings full of servers around the world, undersea cables, transmission masts, steel structures, billions of end devices, rare raw materials, supply chains, political power and landfills full of e-waste. All these heavy things form the basis of what we call a “cloud”. 1

Another example is the Google search engine. You open the page and the colorful logo smiles at you. Google is your friend, you think. But just by typing a few letters, you start a transcontinental process: a powerful algorithm calculates what you might be looking for based on your complex data. The scale of this process is hidden. So is the price you pay to use these services, with your data. 2

And a last example: Social media seems to be free, useful and without alternative, but the algorithms behind are paralyzing generations and dividing nations. 3

The question here is: how can we get an authentic and unvarnished view of technology? How to get a better understanding of what it really is, what it does behind the curtain. And finally: How can we design technology wisely?

The Proposal

“Demystify Technology” is a claim against the intransparency, disguise and hypocrisy of technology. It is about seeing computers and infotech (itc) for what they are, lifting the veil, peeling back the surface, looking inside the black box bb. With courage and curiosity.

Creative Coding is a powerful tool to demystify technology. It confronts you with the hidden structures of the digital devices and systems you use every single day. And yes, this can cause feelings like fear and rejection ca. But overcoming these feelings and learning how the machine actually works can help you to become a literate and more responsibe designer.

“Technological progress” is not a straight line. It is now about recognizing failures from the past and rolling up our sleeves to correct them. 4 Let’s do this – together – to transform technological progress into technological wisdom.

Footnotes

1	This metapher is borrowed from James Bridle‘s brilliant book “New Dark Age“.
2	Taken from Ranga Yogeschwar’s book “Nächste Ausfahrt Zukunft”.
3	I recommend watching this talk by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin from the Center for Humane Technology: The AI Dilemma.
4	Jenny Odell calls this “Manifest Dismantling” in her book “The Art of Doing Nothing – Resisting the Attention Economy”.
bb	A black box is something we can use or interact with, but we don’t fully understand how it works inside. We can see what goes in and what comes out, but the inner workings are (deliberately) hidden or too complex to observe.
ca	I call this phenomenon “Code Aversion”, which refers to the reluctance or discomfort people feel when engaging with computer programming. That’s why they prefer user-friendly graphical interfaces (GUIs) over learning to code, because GUIs feel more accessible. However, this aversion misses the core value of coding: digital empowerment. By learning to code, individuals gain the ability to understand, shape, and critically engage with the digital tools they use, transforming them from passive consumers into responsible and literate creators in a technology-driven world.
itc	ITC – Information and Communication Technology

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