downgrade – the book

Hey you!

I hope you are doing good.

It’s crazy what times we live in, isn’t it? It feels it was only the day before yesterday when we were still discussing blockchain, NFTs and the value of digital art. Today, just two and a half years later, the topic has completely disappeared from the media because even more blatant technologies, AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney have shifted the pace of so-called “technological progress” up two levels. It feels like you have to keep getting faster and faster, everyone has to run, otherwise we’ll be left behind. Hartmut Rosa once put it nicely: We are in a state of “racing standstill” (“rasender Stillstand”), we are running up escalators that are heading downwards. It is the technologies that are becoming more and more dangerous for us, with their free services and hypocritical promises – right into politics, into our respectful interaction with one another and into our more than human world.

I have always felt an enormous responsibility towards the people and institutions I work with. And I have many questions in my mind. Which perspectives and tools are useful for freeing ourselves from our technological paralysis? How can we make critical thinking about technology tangible without drifting into the academic and abstract? How do you approach such a damn complex topic without going completely mad?

With questions like these in mind, I moved to Barcelona in early 2023 to look for answers. There I kept a diary, had countless conversations, joined communities, founded a local network for creative technologists, taught at Elisava and learned a lot from the low-tech community, which is very active there. What I learned there is now flowing into a book: “downgrade” is a plea for simple, honest, and transparent technology.

“downgrade” is a collection of independent essays that address various aspects between culture and technology. Embedded in the guise of narratives and experience reports, these texts touch on major themes, but remain in an attitude of wonder, questioning and searching.

I really like the notion of “downgrade”. The term is polarizing, but that also makes it interesting. And perhaps it also reveals that we associate many words used in the context of technology with negative connotations. The downgrade that I have in mind is positive, it boldly forges ahead and illuminates dark places.

The book will hopefully come out in 2025. I’ll keep you posted about it here in the newsletter! Any ideas, comments, anything you want to share with me? Just drop me a line to feedback@timrodenbroeker.de

Happy New Year to you all! 🎉

Tim