Daniel Vollaro
@dvollaro.bsky.social
Writer, professor, nature lover, and techno-skeptic who blogs at www.futuredoubt.com. Learn more about me at www.danvollaro.com.
Disruption is increasingly being sold to us as a positive. I’m calling bullshit on that. www.futuredoubt.com/post/we-don-...
We don’t want your disruption
I was in my car recently listening to a podcast when an ad for Fifth Third Bank came on. The narrator, a very businesslike female voice, declared that the bank offers its customers “new and disruptive...
www.futuredoubt.com
July 11, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Disruption is increasingly being sold to us as a positive. I’m calling bullshit on that. www.futuredoubt.com/post/we-don-...
Three tests for the societal integration of AI. How will we know AI has been a benefit to society?
1. Fewer people are living under overpasses.
2. Screen time has gone down rather than up.
3. Economic inequality has declined.
www.futuredoubt.com/post/three-t...
1. Fewer people are living under overpasses.
2. Screen time has gone down rather than up.
3. Economic inequality has declined.
www.futuredoubt.com/post/three-t...
Three Tests for the Societal Integration of AI
The age of AI has arrived with salvific predictions that artificial intelligence will solve humanity’s biggest problems, making power plants more efficient, optimizing medical diagnostics and supply c...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 26, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Three tests for the societal integration of AI. How will we know AI has been a benefit to society?
1. Fewer people are living under overpasses.
2. Screen time has gone down rather than up.
3. Economic inequality has declined.
www.futuredoubt.com/post/three-t...
1. Fewer people are living under overpasses.
2. Screen time has gone down rather than up.
3. Economic inequality has declined.
www.futuredoubt.com/post/three-t...
Henry David Thoreau is often unfairly depicted as anti-technology. I think if he were suddenly transported into the present, he would be fascinated by the smartphone and would find interesting uses for it. Like many of us, he would also be a skeptical user. www.futuredoubt.com/post/thoreau...
Thoreau’s Cell Phone
There were three of us on the two-mile hike to Keown Falls in LaFayette, Georgia, on a mild afternoon in early February, one of those days that makes you wonder if Spring will come early this year. Th...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 17, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Henry David Thoreau is often unfairly depicted as anti-technology. I think if he were suddenly transported into the present, he would be fascinated by the smartphone and would find interesting uses for it. Like many of us, he would also be a skeptical user. www.futuredoubt.com/post/thoreau...
OpenAI’s foray into digital devices has me wondering, do I need wearable tech that brings AI even closer to my bodies and brain stem. The answer is no. #AI #technology www.futuredoubt.com/post/where-a...
Where is it all headed?
OpenAI recently announced that it had purchased Jony Ive’s hardware design company for $6.5 billion. OpenAI wants to make the next generation of AI-enabled wearable or portable devices, and partnering...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 8, 2025 at 4:50 PM
OpenAI’s foray into digital devices has me wondering, do I need wearable tech that brings AI even closer to my bodies and brain stem. The answer is no. #AI #technology www.futuredoubt.com/post/where-a...
My latest post on Future Doubt offers a writer's take on the internet of dead writing. #AI #writing #bluesky #technology
www.futuredoubt.com/post/the-int...
www.futuredoubt.com/post/the-int...
The internet is a towering babel of disposable language.
It is strange to be a writer on the internet these days. In the 1980s when I was an English major at a state college in New Jersey, I imagined a future in which authorship and craft would be highly va...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 8, 2025 at 4:28 PM
My latest post on Future Doubt offers a writer's take on the internet of dead writing. #AI #writing #bluesky #technology
www.futuredoubt.com/post/the-int...
www.futuredoubt.com/post/the-int...
We are not well served by technology that is always trying to do things more quickly and efficiently. Friction is good for us. I'm learning that lately. Check out my blog post on Future Doubt.... www.futuredoubt.com/post/frictio...
Friction is Good For Us
Last year, I confided to a friend that I was using a food processor to finely chop onions and carrots for a recipe. My friend, who takes pride in his culinary skills, tut-tutted me. "You shouldn't do ...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 2, 2025 at 1:51 AM
We are not well served by technology that is always trying to do things more quickly and efficiently. Friction is good for us. I'm learning that lately. Check out my blog post on Future Doubt.... www.futuredoubt.com/post/frictio...
I've been thinking and writing about what progress means in the digital age. One thing is certain: computing power does not equal progress. www.futuredoubt.com/post/why-moo...
Why Moore's Law Isn't Necessarily Progress
I recently calculated that I have owned seven desktop computers in my lifetime, along with four tablets, at least five laptop computers, and approximately seven cell phones. I thought this was a lot u...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 2, 2025 at 1:42 AM
I've been thinking and writing about what progress means in the digital age. One thing is certain: computing power does not equal progress. www.futuredoubt.com/post/why-moo...
I wrote this piece to push back against the quasi-religious fervor around AI. It sounds like an altar call sometimes: Accept AI as your personal Lord and savior, or be left behind. Really creepy... #tech #AI www.futuredoubt.com/post/left-be...
Left Behind: How the Rhetoric of AI Inevitability Dumbs Down the Conversation
Every fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation remembers what they were doing (more or less) when Captain Jean-Luc Picard became "Locutus" of Borg. Captured by a terrifying civilization of cyborgs who "a...
www.futuredoubt.com
June 1, 2025 at 9:54 PM
I wrote this piece to push back against the quasi-religious fervor around AI. It sounds like an altar call sometimes: Accept AI as your personal Lord and savior, or be left behind. Really creepy... #tech #AI www.futuredoubt.com/post/left-be...
Hello. I'm excited to finally get going on Bluesky. Already it feels different--more humane and reflective. I am a writer and a teacher of writing who lives and works in the Atlanta Metro area. I write about #tech at www.futuredoubt.com, a blog for techno-skepticism and pushing back on the #AI hype.
Home | Future Doubt
www.futuredoubt.com
June 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Hello. I'm excited to finally get going on Bluesky. Already it feels different--more humane and reflective. I am a writer and a teacher of writing who lives and works in the Atlanta Metro area. I write about #tech at www.futuredoubt.com, a blog for techno-skepticism and pushing back on the #AI hype.