Why the tech apocalypse of 2022 was largely an excellent factor

With Twitter, FTX and Alexa all within the doldrums by the top of this 12 months, Annalee Newitz explains why that is truly an encouraging signal for humanity

By Annalee Newitz

IT HAS been an apocalyptic 12 months for expertise, however that doesn’t imply we’re heading for dystopia. The truth is, the largest tech failures of 2022 are literally an encouraging signal that many people are nonetheless fairly smart regardless of all the things.

As I mentioned in my most up-to-date column (10 December), Twitter seems to be imploding after new proprietor Elon Musk fired 1000’s of workers and allowed vaccine deniers and white supremacists again on the platform. For many people, it appeared like a nightmarish harbinger of issues to come back on-line.

The instant response of many advertisers and customers was “get me …