Dear Commons Community,

I have just finished reading What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. Those of us interested in broader issues such as technological determinism and technological pessimism will find it interesting.  Kelly covers a lot of ground especially when establishing a relationship between technological development and biological evolution.  He uses a term “technium” to refer to a larger technological entity that has driven technological development throughout millennia.  In what is probably the most controversial aspect of Kelly’s thesis, he refers to the technium as a “living organism” that permeates the universe.

Kelly is surely a technophile who sees much of what is good in technological development.  I believe he is  on fairly firm ground when discussing the evolution of technology and  especially on how it has expanded humankind’s choices and options.  Although interesting and provocative, I don’t accept his comparison of the technium to biological evolution.  I think this is a reach that I am sure anthropologists and others can easily refute.

In sum, if technology is your thing and especially if you see the “good” in its application, you will probably enjoy this book.

Tony