There is an inspiring article in this month’s Fast Company about how developing countries are starting from square one in building their new cities. Countries such as South Korea, China and India are bringing the best minds and companies together to create City 2.0. These cities will be wired beyond anything we have today. These technologies will have every system speaking to every other system to increase the efficiency of the entire city.
All this sounds like Blade Runner in the light. Reading the article, I was left with two feelings. First, I want these toys now. The article describes the ideal of how technology can solve many of our energy, green house effects and over-population problems.
The second feeling was – something is missing. The men behind these plans are on the leading edge and brilliant, but they are missing a big part of the puzzle. A paragraph at the end of the article speaks about how all the planning still might not be enough – it certainly won’t be if they don’t take in the human and natural aspects. It seems like another example of believing technology will solely solve the problems caused by technology. We have these problems not so much because of technology, we have them because we’ve left out the human and natural components.
What we need are projects where technology supports the natural parts of us instead of controlling them. We need to change our meta-model that knowledge will set us free. It is knowledge in service to the whole that will heal the planet.