The Society for Technological Advancement

Our Purpose

Techno-scientific progress encounters a number of barriers in the UK, including excessive bureaucracy, the celebration of prestige over potential, and general pessimism about our ability to positively shape the future through cycles of discovery, invention, and innovation.

The Society for Technological Advancement (SOTA) is a new venture designed to cultivate optimism about techno-scientific development and build capability for it to happen, forming a cross-disciplinary community around this mission.

Our Mission

1. Redirect exceptional talent towards technological and scientific pursuits.

   We believe more of the world's most talented people should be working on problems that actually matter, rather than chasing the latest trend.

2. Increase talent density in the UK by building a community of promising scientists and technologists.

   We want the people building the future to know each other, so that they can build it together.

3. Shift public perception toward viewing technology as a vital driver of human progress.

   We think the world needs a reminder of how far we've come, and a vision of where we could go next.

Our Principles

1. The best way to predict the future is to create it.

   Our future is a direct consequence of our actions. We strive for impact through agency, high conviction and industriousness.

2. Technology is the extension of human creative intelligent output.

   We value technological progress in its variety as a means to overcome challenges, transcend constraints, and improve our chances of surviving external selection pressures.

3. Technology is key to human fulfilment.

   We believe fulfilment can be achieved by building and contributing towards techno-scientific progress which benefits us and the whole species.

4. The best defence is a good offence.

   Optimism towards technology and our ability to use it for good is the best way to counteract those who want to use it to cause harm.