Faster, Better, and Cheaper
Science is theory. Technology is practice. It's applied science.
Referring to “the tech industry” is dumb. That's a label we kind of accept, but it's not a clear thought. You would not call something “the physics industry.” Every industry uses technology, like every industry uses physics.
Business is simply a vehicle to push the future forward and drive human progress. Whether that is accomplished through an open source project, an academic paper, or a research lab, the tool doesn't matter. The goal is to advance technology. Build a better steam engine. It may turn out the best way of doing that is with a capitalist vehicle, but nowadays it could be done with an on-chain community or a crowdfund. The tool is less important than the goal.
If the purpose of technology is to reduce scarcity, then the ultimate purpose of technology is to eliminate mortality.
At first that sounds crazy. But let's start here: the purpose of technology is to reduce scarcity. Think about how a breakthrough is described: faster, smaller, cheaper, better. All these words mean with a new technology, we can do more with less.
Mortality is the main source of scarcity. If we had more time (or infinite time), we would be less concerned with whether something was faster. The reason speed has value is because time has value; the reason time has value is because human lifespans are finite.
If you make lifespans longer, you reduce the effective cost of everything. If reducing scarcity is the purpose of technology, eliminating the main source of scarcity—mortality—is the ultimate purpose of technology. Life extension is the most important thing we can invent.
We need to evangelize technological progress with every word and action. To recognize that the purpose of technology is to transcend our limits and to motivate everything we do with this sense of purpose. To take the winnings from our web apps and put them toward Mars. To feel no hesitation to start small and no shame in dreaming big. To tell the world it is possible to cure the deaf, restore sight, and end death itself.
