Technology: Problem Solver or Dangerous Master?

How should society think about technological innovation? Enthusiastically embrace it? Vigorously reject it, Neo-Luddite style? Worry, but remain tentatively optimistic?

There is an increasingly vocal debate on these questions in the public and political spheres. Technology is being singled out for killing more jobs than it creates, depressing wages, exacerbating inequality, destroying personal privacy—and even for posing a potentially mortal threat to mankind. But is the pace of technological change really accelerating? And if it is, should we be worried, or should we rejoice?

Please join ITIF on July 15th for a spirited debate between ITIF President Rob Atkinson and Wendell Wallach, author of the new book A Dangerous Master: How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control. Among other topics, they will discuss whether technology is a dangerous master or a liberating assistant; whether it is likely to grow out of control, or continue enabling human empowerment; and whether we need more astute and vigorous warnings about the risks of technological innovation, or cooler heads, because these warnings only dampen support for continued innovation that society needs.