The Untapped Tech Tree

Abstract

The Society for Technological Advancement (SoTA) is hosting its second event on the 1st and 2nd of June 2024. This time it is a 'hackathon' which aims to lionise the undiscovered and overlooked pathways of various technoscientific disciplines. We hope to bring together talented, ambitious, rigorous, and enthusiastic individuals for two days of creation.

Our motivation for doing so is to encourage innovators to explore and maximise the variance of technologies which are available, big or small. This will avoid the dangers that over-specialisation in specific technologies, such as fossil fuels, posed to human flourishing.

The Tech Tree

The 'tech tree' is a metaphor for the branching paths of progress throughout human history - a concept popularised by video games, where players might unlock 'steel-making' before advancing to 'steam engines'. The branching paths of progress often come with an opportunity cost, meaning that progress down a presently lucrative path may accelerate at the expense of others.

This is over-specialisation, manifesting as a single-point failure when the technology has significant downsides that were not clear upon adoption.

Motivation

Historically, human welfare has almost always been a zero-sum game. But every once in a while, things have got radically better, permanently, for everyone. These step changes in the human condition are synonymous with technology. The invention of fire, the wheel, electricity, and of the personal computer changed the world forever and for the better.

While improving existing paths is vital, in uncertain environments it is better to search broadly than to follow the direct path. Like Lichtenberg figures, finding the optimal path is often not without its branches and diversions.

Your Role

Sometimes it can feel like everything has already been discovered. There are no foreign shores in a world with satellite technology. But we believe that our exploration of the tech tree has only just begun.

There are branches of progress that have been either forgotten or intentionally overlooked. Analogue computers and electric cars both preceded their modern counterparts, yet revisiting them reveals untapped potential. We've become highly specialised in fruitful industries like fossil fuels and photolithography, but have left valuable ideas unexplored.

We think the world would be a better place if more people took it upon themselves to be not just passive consumers, but explorers and creators.

That's where you come in.