Understanding technological geopolitics

Paola Ricaurte, a technology researcher from Monterrey and coordinator of the PUEDJA-CONACYT Digital Laboratory, was one of the speakers at the Conversation “Neoliberal Authoritarianism or Democratizing Democracy?: The Dispute for the Future in Latin America” in early February in her country, organized jointly by CLACSO and the “University Program of Studies on Democracy, Justice and Society” (PUEDJS-UNAM).

In that context, speaking with CLACSO TV, he warned that “we in our countries need to understand that there is a technological geopolitics. And in that technological geopolitics, we in the south are taking on the role of mere users.”

Interviewed by Gustavo Lema

The expert explained that “technology is not neutral in principle. Technology is part of a system where socio-technical systems, knowledge production systems (consciousness, laws, education), and media systems are all interconnected. So, if you want to understand the role of socio-technical systems in this interconnection, you have to look at what it is aiming for; that is, what type of technology, with what instruments, and for what purposes it serves.”

Then, Paola Ricaurte elaborated: “There are two perspectives: those who say that technology will allow us to achieve or improve society, and the techno-pessimists who say that technology will serve to reproduce domination. We have to try to understand that if we want to know the result of what we are doing when we use these technologies, it is reinforcing a certain system, a certain way of thinking, a certain logic, a certain scientific development, a certain political power, a certain economy that is based on economic development. So, how can we change this? What can we do to change it? Well, first, we need to understand how it operates.”