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Technological utopianism
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===From late 20th and early 21st centuries=== {{quotation|The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1989-06-14 |title=Reagan Gets A Red Carpet From British (Published 1989) |work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/14/world/reagan-gets-a-red-carpet-from-british.html |access-date=2023-08-12 |last1=Rule |first1=Sheila}}</ref>|[[Ronald Reagan]]|14 June 1989}} A movement of techno-utopianism began to flourish again in the [[dot-com company|dot-com]] culture of the 1990s, particularly in the West Coast of the United States, especially based around [[Silicon Valley]]. The [[Californian Ideology]] was a set of beliefs combining [[Bohemianism|bohemian]] and [[Anti-authoritarianism|anti-authoritarian]] attitudes from the [[counterculture of the 1960s]] with techno-utopianism and support for [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] economic policies. It was reflected in, reported on, and even actively promoted in the pages of ''[[Wired Magazine|Wired]]'' magazine, which was founded in San Francisco in 1993 and served for a number years as the "bible" of its adherents.<ref name="Borsook 1996">{{cite journal |author=Borsook, Paulina |author-link=Paulina Borsook |year=1996 |title=Cyberselfishness |url=https://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1996/07/borsook.html?welcome=true |url-status=dead |journal=Mother Jones |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929125249/https://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1996/07/borsook.html?welcome=true |archive-date=2007-09-29 |access-date=2007-02-06}}</ref><ref name="Borsook 2000">{{cite book|author = Borsook, Paulina|title = Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High-Tech| publisher = PublicAffairs|year = 2000|isbn = 978-1-891620-78-2}}</ref><ref name="Barbrook and Cameron 2000">{{cite journal |last1=Barbrook |first1=Richard |last2=Cameron |first2=Andy |year=2000 |title=The Californian Ideology |url=http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/theory-californianideology.html |journal=Science as Culture |access-date=2007-02-06}}</ref> This form of techno-utopianism reflected a belief that technological change revolutionizes human affairs, and that digital technology in particular โ of which the [[Internet]] was but a modest harbinger โ would increase personal freedom by freeing the individual from the rigid embrace of bureaucratic big government. "Self-empowered knowledge workers" would render traditional hierarchies redundant; digital communications would allow them to escape the modern city, an "obsolete remnant of the [[industrial age]]".<ref name="Borsook 1996"/><ref name="Borsook 2000"/><ref name="Barbrook and Cameron 2000"/> Similar forms of "digital utopianism" has often entered in the political messages of party and social movements that point to the [[World Wide Web|Web]] or more broadly to [[new media]] as harbingers of political and social change.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Natale|first1=Simone|last2=Ballatore|first2=Andrea|date=2014-01-01|title=The web will kill them all: new media, digital utopia, and political struggle in the Italian 5-Star Movement|journal=Media, Culture & Society|volume=36|issue=1|pages=105โ121|doi=10.1177/0163443713511902|s2cid=73517559|issn=0163-4437|url=https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/14858/1/2014-Natale_and_Ballatore-The_Web_will_kill_them_all.pdf}}</ref> Its adherents claim it transcended conventional "[[Leftโright politics|right/left]]" distinctions in [[politics]] by rendering politics obsolete. However, Western techno-utopianism disproportionately attracted adherents from the [[Right-libertarianism|libertarian right]] end of the political spectrum. Western techno-utopians often have a [[Economic liberalism|hostility toward government regulation]] and a belief in the superiority of the [[free market]] system. Prominent "[[oracles]]" of techno-utopianism included [[George Gilder]] and [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]], an editor of ''Wired'' who also published several books.<ref name="Borsook 1996"/><ref name="Borsook 2000"/><ref name="Barbrook and Cameron 2000"/> During the late 1990s dot-com boom, when the [[Dot-com bubble|speculative bubble]] gave rise to claims that an era of "permanent prosperity" had arrived, techno-utopianism flourished, typically among the small percentage of the population who were employees of Internet [[Startup company|startups]] and/or owned large quantities of high-tech stocks. With the subsequent [[Stock market crash|crash]], many of these dot-com techno-utopians had to rein in some of their beliefs in the face of the clear return of traditional economic reality.<ref name="Borsook 2000"/><ref name="Barbrook and Cameron 2000"/> According to ''[[The Economist]]'', [[Wikipedia]] "has its roots in the [[techno-optimism]] that characterised the internet at the end of the 20th century. It held that ordinary people could use their computers as tools for liberation, education, and enlightenment."<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 January 2021 |title=Wikipedia is 20, and its reputation has never been higher |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/international/2021/01/09/wikipedia-is-20-and-its-reputation-has-never-been-higher |url-status=live |access-date=29 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231224550/https://www.economist.com/international/2021/01/09/wikipedia-is-20-and-its-reputation-has-never-been-higher |archive-date=31 December 2022 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> In the late 1990s and especially during the first decade of the 21st century, [[technorealism]] and [[techno-progressivism]] are stances that have risen among advocates of [[technological change]] as critical alternatives to techno-utopianism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://technorealism.org/|title=TECHNOREALISM|website=technorealism.org}}</ref>{{primary inline|date=September 2022}}<ref name="Carrico 2005">{{cite web| author = Carrico, Dale| title = Technoprogressivism Beyond Technophilia and Technophobia| year = 2005 | url = http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2005/06/technoprogressivism-beyond.html| access-date=2007-01-28| author-link = Dale Carrico}}</ref>{{SPS|date=September 2022}} However, technological utopianism persists in the 21st century as a result of new technological developments and their impact on society. For example, several [[Technical journalism|technical journalists]] and social commentators, such as [[Mark Pesce]], have interpreted the [[WikiLeaks]] phenomenon and the [[United States diplomatic cables leak]] in early December 2010 as a precursor to, or an incentive for, the creation of a techno-utopian [[Freedom of information laws by country|transparent society]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/42148.html |title=The state, the press and a hyperdemocracy |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |author=Mark Pesce |date=December 13, 2010}}</ref> [[Cyber-utopianism]], first coined by [[Evgeny Morozov]], is another manifestation of this, in particular in relation to the [[Internet]] and [[social networking]]. [[Nick Bostrom]] contends that the rise of [[machine superintelligence]] carries both [[existential risks]] and an extreme potential to improve the future, which might be realized quickly in the event of an [[intelligence explosion]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nick Bostrom on the birth of superintelligence |url=https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/superintelligence/ |access-date=2024-04-07 |website=Big Think}}</ref> In ''Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World'', he further explored ideal scenarios where human civilization reaches technological maturity and solves its diverse coordination problems. He listed some technologies that are theoretically achievable, such as [[cognitive enhancement]], [[reversal of aging]], [[Self-replicating spacecraft|self-replicating spacecrafts]], arbitrary sensory inputs (taste, sound...), or the precise control of motivation, mood, well-being and personality.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bostrom |first=Nick |title=Deep Utopia: Life and Meaning in a Solved World |date=March 27, 2024 |isbn=978-1646871643}}</ref> In [[North Korea]], technological utopianism remains one of the key themes of the state's [[Juche]] ideology.<ref name=Josephson/> The pursuit of advanced strategic technologies is promoted as an integral part of autarkic economic development.<ref name=Josephson/> North Korean technological utopianism essentially rests on three narratives: the rejection of consumer society and culture, an emphasis on heavy industry, and a belief in the ability of the masses of workers to make great technological achievements under the [[Workers' Party of Korea]].<ref name=Josephson/> In practice, this has resulted in most of North Korea's technological resources being utilized for large scale, resource intensive, infrastructure and military projects, many of which have primarily symbolic importance.<ref name=Josephson/> Domestic innovations in nuclear and space sciences continue to play a major role in the state's propaganda narratives, which seek to portray North Korea as a modern regional power.<ref name=Josephson/>
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