At the end of the last ServiceSpace retreat, I pondered about the questions we had raised and realized that this was the reason why I got into technology in the first place. :)  After some brainstorming, Nipun and I have decided to teach a class at UC Berkeley next semester, titled: "Alternative Visions of Technology".

In this course, we will survey a range of "alternative” thinkers - including, but not limited to, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Ivan Illich, Paulo Freire and E.F. Schumacher, to derive potential implications of each of their ideas for the design and use of technological artifacts. We will try to understand their perspectives on technology, society and human development, the underlying values that drive these perspectives, and to apply these values to practical design considerations for technology. The course will consist of weekly readings, discussion, design exercises and short projects.

Our broader hope is that it starts to change the collective dialogue.  Below is a PBS documentary on the rise of the multi-trillion dollar artificial intelligence economy.  If we compound this with new research that 1 in 4 Wall Streeters would cheat to gain $10 million, one can sense the gravity of the situation.