During my yoga studies at Naropa, we talked often about being in right relationship. During my last semester there, I gave [a presentation on the topic](https://www.canva.com/design/DAFiSz6PFhg/Lg6yLjOx-Fi3sJ1-9COq0g/view?utm_content=DAFiSz6PFhg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h9b1c097529#12) for my Sacred Activism class and, 2 years later, am dusting that deck off to begin helping people understand emergent tech in a world that is accelerating towards unchartered territory-- because of tech. Or rather, because those who made the last generation of technology, the web2, centralized model that brought us a new and more dangerous form of capitalism (didn’t think that was possible, huh?) Surveillance Capitalism, lacked some fundamental traits of our collective human experience. Empathy. Compassion. Kindness. Healthy ego. Regenerative leadership. Awareness. and on and on it goes. > We are barreling towards the abyss because the broligarchs of the last 20 years used our raw data, our inputs into their apps, to create an extraction machine on steroids and across all aspects of our daily lives. I am an accidental technologist. I work in an emerging technological field and have for almost a decade. In theory, my industry stands as a counter-balance to the consolidation of wealth and power through extraction and data mining. **Our tech stack uses cryptography to embed privacy, sovereignty and trustless interactions into all forms of value exchange built on our blockchains.** But, ironically, we are also now facing the same forces of centralization and extraction as our industry barrels towards mass adoption. We are also losing sight of our ultimate goal and why our technology exists-- as an alternative to the financial, governance and networking systems of traditional nation stats. Why does history keep repeating itself in the technological spaces? Because at the end of the day, there’s still humans making collective decisions about the technology itself-- **the narratives of what it is used for, the applications that connect humans to blockchains, the governance of each chain and organization participating in the ecosystem**-- all of these factors are driven by humans. And humans are fallible, imperfect and messy. Buried deep within the messiness of our human experience also lies our solutions. Our ability to come together and create solutions on the local level is a fundamental human instinct. And from that local level, we can truly witness the flaws in our systems because we’re holding the space for deep and difficult conversations with our neighbors. **In those containers a community can explore solutions that are relevant to everyone in the room.** And when a handful of engaged community members begin organically building towards solutions relevant to them, their energy and manifestations can reach beyond the walls of that container and touch the lives of those not present. A safe community container designed for such a purpose becomes a schelling point. Problems surface in a container of compassion. Ideas thrive in an incubator of kindness. Solutions manifest in a network of empathy. > We are all staring down the barrel of a gun whose bullets are packed with our data and whose trigger is resting on the finger of a murder of broligarchs who believe their “utopian” vision for a technological society is the only path forward on a dying planet. A death that they personally perpetuated. Our only armor to those bullets is one another. We now must turn our gaze to our own relationships with technology. How can we remove the power from these broligarchs? Control your data, stop giving them the means to weaponize your life against you. Control your money-- where you spend it and what you consider “money”. Stop fearing technology and take the time to understand it-- and then use it against the oppressors wherever you feel drawn to do so. Use technology to create time. Use technology to create connections with like minds. Use technology to create art. Use technology to express your truths. Use technology to protect tomorrow. ### Technology is just another tool. Use it. --- ### Explore your relationship with technology and privacy with the following: - [[Protecting Privacy in Uncertain Times]] - [[Blockchain 101 Q&As]] - [[Getting Started with Privacy & Data Sovereignty]] - [[Privacy Resource Page]]