What we’re about
Hi, I'm Phil.
I've spent much of my life bouncing around between software development, computational art and electronic music, artificial intelligence and tech activism. I simultaneously love technology; and know it well enough to be worried about how it is affecting society.
Having recently moved back to the UK and to the Croydon area, I wanted to find a group of people interested in all aspects of technology, the opportunities it creates, the concerns we have about it, what we CAN DO with it, and what we SHOULD DO with it.
I decided to create the meetup group "Croydon Tech Lovers and Tech Haters" to encompass both sides of the tech coin.
As a programmer I love finding out about better ways to get computers to work for me. With ever more expressive languages and more powerful tools.
As an artist and musician, I love making beautiful and exciting things with computers and programming.
As a (one time, many years ago) AI researcher, I'm hugely impressed with the current crop of new language models and generative AI. I am filled with admiration for what today's researchers are doing. And excited for what will come next.
But as a social activist, I am terrified that as individuals and as a society we are hardly aware of, and NOT PREPARED for, the challenges and changes that are being unleashed. I believe everyone needs to have some level of literacy in how many of today's technologies work, to be aware of the opportunities to use them well, and of the dangers of being abused by them.
And as a human, I have concerns about what AI means for humanity. The apocalyptic stories of AI driving us extinct are overblown. But how humans and AIs will work together in future, what the economy and employment will look like, what human dignity and purpose look like, when the machines are as capable and productive and "creative" as us, are all crucial, troubling, questions we are only just starting to contemplate. We don't know where this is going. And worse, most of us feel we have very little say in the matter.
So this is a single group with two faces. I'm thinking of trying to have two regular sorts of events : the tech "lovers" meetups will focus on the exciting new tools that are arriving, learning what they are and what we can do with them. The tech "haters" meetups will look at, and discuss, the issues and concerns that arise. I hope many of you will want to participate in both types of meetups : to explore the fully rounded perspective that comes from seeing both sides.