Monday: The future of technology and Britain

Morning Change Makers,

A more personal one from me today. I attended an event last week that left a mark on me and I wanted to share it with you.

It regards the Change Makers of tomorrow, and perhaps a more positive view of the world that we are all used to reading in the papers.

Will

As you know, we typically bring you the stories of the technological and entrepreneurial progress happening all around us, but as you might have read in the description of this newsletter originally, we are also committed to bringing you the ideas changing the world. One idea that both Jack and I are intrigued by is that of effective accelerationism (usually shortened to e/acc). 

It’s a fancy term for the idea that the adoption and advancement of technology can solve many of the world’s problems. 

We’re especially interested in a sub-set of this known as UK accelerationism (colloquially shortened to uk/acc), advancing the idea that the UK can shift from a waning and uninspiring second-rate power to a beacon of prosperity, by aggressively adopting the technology available to us today and in the coming years. 

It seems roughly once a generation there are technological shifts that transform the structure of the world: the invention of the computer, and the invention of the internet, to name a couple. And for too long it’s been left to the Americans to pioneer these technologies and, therefore, reap the rewards. It’s no coincidence that the US has founded every trillion-dollar company outside of Asia, and Europe (inc. UK) has achieved 0.

UK/acc promotes the idea that we have a lot to give, both to the world and to ourselves. The future of our island can be bright. But only if we make it. 

Let’s explain UK accelerationism and why it matters:

1. Ambition

Effective accelerationism has a very important belief at its centre: the people of the world can positively influence their future at scale.

This is a statement that feels obvious but it filters through into the world very poorly. People tend to believe they have strong agency over their futures but limited ability to impact the future beyond their sphere of influence. 

This shows in the data: in a YouGov survey, only 3% of respondents in France and Australia think the world is getting better. Around six-in-ten Americans (58%) say that life for people like them is worse today than it was 50 years ago.

If people believed we can positively influence our future then we wouldn’t be so pessimistic about it.

Another way of thinking about this is to ask yourself the following question. When was the last time someone told you that you weren’t ambitious enough?

Most people are rate limiters on ideas. When you share a big ambitious goal, most people will say, “Are you sure about that? But you haven’t considered this?

Sam Altman said it well:

Accelerationism means a better future is possible and we have the agency to create it. If you believe this then you help people navigate their ideas so that they become more impactful not less. 

2. Democratisation 

Another thing effective accelerationism believes is that technology is a tide that raises all boats. 

This axiom seems wrong given that technology has given rise to the richest people the world has ever seen. It looks like technology has been a source of huge inequality. 

This is wrong and has always been wrong. 

A better way of thinking about this is that technology democratises at the user level.

Richard Branson does not have a special billionaire version of Google. Mark Zuckerberg does not have a special billionaire version of Netflix.

Technologies that proliferate through open markets give rise to more equal outcomes.

This matters because most people believe the opposite to be true. “Only through regulation, safeguarding, and protectionism can we maintain a high quality of life,” they might say.

This is a fallacy.

The reason the UK was the most powerful country in the world in the 19th century is because we were the first to embrace the industrial revolution. It also brought more people out of poverty than at any other time in British history.

Our ability to embrace technology corresponds directly to our ability to succeed as a nation.

The point of it all

Effective accelerationism does not suggest that technology can and will solve all our problems. Instead, it suggests that we have enormous agency to fix these problems, but we must embrace the technology available to us, and importantly build our own.

The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight the people, businesses and ideas changing the world. While e/acc might just be a bunch of nerds gathered around in Twitter group chats and dingy rooms, it might also contain some of those who go on to truly change the world.

Further resource:

Anglofutrism podcast - Big, bold British ideas

E/acc explained