Which Future for Online Life? by Carissa Véliz
By articulating a vision of the future that seems inevitable, technology industry leaders want to create the impression that the surrender of privacy and other defining trends of the current moment cannot be stopped. But predictions become self-fulfilling prophecies only if we believe them and act accordingly.
OXFORD—I have long found the present more interesting than the future. I remember my father’s frustration at my shrugs when he would inquire about my long-term plans. He doesn’t ask anymore. Perhaps my disposition comes from the kinds of philosophers I read in my early youth. Perhaps it’s a personality trait. Or perhaps it’s the sensory wonders that the present offers: I can touch and smell the flowers along the canal where I run. I can marvel at the colors flashing under the bright summer light. The future exists only in our minds. To be more interested in it than in the present is to be more attached to one’s hopes and fears than to the world.
