
a photo of someone using a device for the blind | Photo by Sigmund
The novel Vision Dreams, A Parable maybe a work of science-fiction. But in another way, it can also be read as a heartfelt memoir of a blind person in a world dominated by the most dehumanizing forms of technology.
It is important, however, to not read it as just another cautionary tale about technology’s excesses. These days many see that label and immediately assume a story is about technophobic, regressive, ‘all-natural’ living or even anti-civilization.
In many ways, it is still a story about helping the blind with technology and how technology can be twisted if prioritized towards the wrong ends.
This is where both thought leaders and fiction writers often miss the mark. There is a massive gap between technology focused on assisting the disenfranchised or supporting the underprivileged versus technology that is all about power, wealth and exploitation.
Ironically, the difference lies not even in the technology itself but in the mindset of cultures. Today, technology is progressing at a pace that far outmatches the industrial revolution yet certain cultures are adamant in still using it in ways that have historically invited destruction and oppression.
Their ideas are nothing new, and are still rooted in the dark side of human tendencies. Luckily, the same can be said for their counterparts who want to see humanity genuinely flourish by focusing innovations on the people who need it most. That’s why it is important to distinguish the latter from the former.
Espousing Tools That Helped The Disenfranchised

a photo of someone illustrating something on an ipad | Photo by Tom Claes
We covered a lot of assistive technologies for blind people in a previous article. In the list of examples given, they have one thing in common: they are equalizers.
Today, certain subcultures are increasingly smearing the concept of “equality” as some form of oppression and reintroducing a really bad strain of Darwinian thought into the 21st century. Helping the blind with technology is seen as a waste compared to just ensuring they are never born to begin with.
In another twist of irony, these same groups would welcome the idea of using the principles of equalizing technology to further enhance their own already functioning senses. It is a classically horrific and inhumane worldview where people with disability are simply undesirable non-factors that ‘waste’ technology meant for the already fit.
They also miss the point of equality as a positive force of humanity. Equalizers like assistive technologies ensure that disabilities are not an obstacle to helping people achieve fulfilling lives. And as a result, more of humanity is lifted up and nobody is left behind.
This is in sharp contrast to a defensive tribalism and anti-egalitarian subculture that confuses the entirety of humanity with the handful who are privileged and powerful. Theirs is a vision of technology that blinds them to the reality that more people on the same footing is what leads to real thriving.
Technology Should Not Be About Power

a photo of a robot | Photo by Maximalfocus
Another theme of Vision Dreams is the idea of using technology for the powerless in contrast to the obsession with self-protection and hyper-vigilance.
Given that today’s headlines have no shortage of coverage of major conflicts, the use of technology in warfare is perhaps the most glaring example of using technology to create misfortune rather than help the unfortunate.
Sadder still are those who think that campaigning to turn swords into plowshares is only for sappy idealists.
This is what happens when one too many people start viewing technology through the lens of power. Such a view does not just create weapons that could literally blind people (and worse). They also blind them to the gross inhumanity of violence. It blinds them to the fact that there is more to human flourishing than arming one’s civilization from perceived external threats.
In fact, such a Hobbesian, survivalist view of humanity is more likely to end it rather than sustain it to the next century. It is why the threat of nuclear war continues to hang over us, and its only logical conclusion is a dead end for our species.
Is it really sappy to contrast a bleak future where militarism is the only purpose for most people against a future where technology restores human dignity to the disabled and underprivileged?
Yes, Technology Can (and Should) Make Us More Human
Given how predominant the abuses of technology have been, it is understandable that some have become increasingly cynical about continuing to develop it. Why insist on helping the blind with technology when it seems to only encourage dependence and eventual abuse?
The answer to such cynicism is to remember that technology will always be a part of humanity, and that its development was always intended to bring about human flourishing.
When technology becomes a deterrent to that flourishing (be it by fostering inequality, reducing the human condition, creating existential threats), then it needs correction rather than be scrapped entirely.
The difference is quite simple, really.
The world in Vision Dreams, A Parable really does a good job of demonstrating the difference. You can see it for yourself by checking out the book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
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