Tech’s social divide

Every day new technology is giving us a fresh glimpse of what life will be like in the future. But, as Anne McElvoy points out, the view always seems to be for the same comfortable, successful, upwardly mobile sector of society.

Technology is great at building a new world of automated industry and infrastructure for the upper echelons of society. But it appears less interested in providing support for those people who will be most directly affected by the new automated world – industrial workers in economies where innovation is driving down the price of labour.

Some big players have impressive credentials, but others have poor records on helping those at the lower end of the global economy. It will be interesting to see how, when, and under what kind of pressure, more brands star to address this disparity in earnest.