That the poor are invisible is one of the most important things about them. They are not simply neglected and forgotten as in the old rhetoric of reform; what is much worse, they are not seen.
Michael HarringtonRead
If there is technological advance without social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Technological progress must be accompanied by social progress, or it can lead to increased suffering.
This quote by Michael Harrington emphasizes the importance of balancing technological advancements with social improvements. It suggests that if technology progresses without addressing social issues, such as inequality and poverty, it can exacerbate human suffering rather than alleviate it, leading to a society where only a few benefit from advancements while others are left behind.
Themes
TechnologySocial AdvanceHuman MiseryProgressInequality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of ethics in technology, you could quote Harrington to highlight the need for social considerations.
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Until computers and robots make quantum advances, they basically remain adding machines: capable only of doing things in which all the variables are controlled and predictable.
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When producers want to know what the public wants, they graph it as curves. When they want to tell the public what to get, they say it in curves.
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I can't blame modern technology for my predilection for distraction, not after all the hours I've spent watching lost balloons disappear into the clouds. I did it before the Internet, and I'll do it after the apocalypse, assuming we still have helium and weak-gripped children.
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