Bad Tech

In the before times (pre-ensloppification of Twitter, and pre-LLMs (some would say they’re the same thing)), I had an exchange with Imp that produced the list you see below.

I no longer remember which of us began the discussion, but the question at hand was about technology that is often looked upon as a mistake in hindsight, or has dystopic vibes.

• DDT
• Thalidomide
• Microplastics
• Leaded gas/pipes
• Asbestos
• CFCs/HCFs
• Lobotomy
• Biological weapons
• Nuclear weapons
• Cloning

There are two reasons for me resurfacing this old list. The first is that I happened to be cleaning up my drafts and scattered notes (as part of a focusing exercise re. my career, but that’s another story). The second is because I find Robin Sloan’s “this is the best it will ever be” sentiment to be brutally real-headed.

It’s interesting and useful to imagine — really visualize — the chatbots and agents in ten years or twenty … barnacled with gunk … locked in a permanent cat-and-mouse game with their adversaries … just as a platform like Google is today. In 2036, you send your AI agent out into the internet, and it returns battered, bedraggled, inexplicably enthusiastic about a bargain flight to Bermuda.

Felt like a congruent enough set of things to make a small post about. It’s easy to miss the bad for the good when it comes to technological “progress”, and sometimes we’re not lucky enough to be able to walk back things that could be reassessed (see: smartphones).

So, cheers to all the times we’ve been wise enough to take the one step back. And pour one out for the things we lose when we’ve decided not to. I fear this is one of those times.

P.S: Since it is now 2026, I can of course ask the bots to expand on Imp’s excellent list. Here’s Claude’s attempt at doing so.