This short speech was used to open the event held at Hanbury Hall, Shoreditch. It was followed by a panel of Anders Sandberg, Lee Cronin, and James Phillips.
SoTA (The Society for Technological Advancement) was created by myself and a group of friends, with the aim of promoting techno-optimist sentiment and policy. To keep up to date visit ilikethefuture.com .
Throughout human history, technology has been the golden thread that weaved our aspirations onto our surroundings — an accumulating agency amplifier.
Now, the belief in the continued human prowess over the universe is not seen as a badge of pride, but a source of embarrassment for many. In other words the public is losing faith in technological progress. What raised our forbearers out of poverty, democratised knowledge, and has fed us in our Billions is now being seen as reckless, immoral and greedy.
I fundamentally reject the notion of us giving up this fire of Prometheus. That is why I, and many others here have come together to start this effort - SoTA - The Society For Technological Advancement.
My name is Matvey, but it is not important who I am. Rather, it is important what I am. I’m an optimist, and engineer: someone who wants to build a better future. And who are you?
You are innovators, mavericks, creatives. Pushing forward the State Of The Art in so many different fields.
You are people who can contribute to not only equipping humanity with the tools to build a better future, but also to changing the narrative and inspire millions of people to dream even bigger.
At the Society for Technological Advancement our goal is simple. Let’s empower and inspire the next generation of techno-optimists. I reject stagnation. I reject scaling back growth. I reject defeat. I urge you to do the same. What will you do?
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