‘Meaningful tech’ is tech for good

Technology is changing our world. Many people believe our civilization is at a tipping point and technology has to power to either make our world or destroy it. Out of this uncertainty came the ‘tech for good’ movement. It asks technologists and scientists to consider the environmental and ethical responsibilities they hold as individuals who can use their jobs to positively impact the planet. Pat, a big proponent of ‘tech for good’ told us why he thinks it’s so important.

‘Tech for good it’s even a hashtag now. I think we are generally at a tipping point across a range of really existential issues. We are facing cataclysmic climate change and that has a knock on effect to migration, conflict and extreme poverty. We’ve got plastic pollution and habitat and wildlife destruction. That’s just the environmental side, we’ve got financial inequality, the erosions of trust in our political systems and the social contracts we hold with each other.

So if you think about the efforts made so far against the above issues, I think it’s fair to say politicians have proved incapable to be change makers. Now we have big businesses waking up to the stark reality of the world we are creating.

I think, now more than ever, only science and only technology can save us from some of these big issues. So, as a technologist, your skills, ideas, and abilities have never been more in demand. Not just from potential employers but from the world around you. We’re either going to fall on the right or the wrong side of history.

So I suppose this is a call to arms to my fellow technologists when you look at that next role just ask yourself are you doing enough to positively impact the world around you.’

Listen to the full show here.