41 Questions We Should Ask Ourselves About the Technology We Use Answer them for ChatGPT!

Adapted from L.M. Sacasas for the ELAvate Leadership Blog

6-minute read or a longer reflection

Over a year ago my daughter Jasmine sent me an article from Jason Kottke that highlighted the 41 questions L. M. Sacasas says we should ask ourselves before we embark on using a new technology. The purpose of these questions is to stimulate your thinking and decision making on the moral or ethical implications of “tools” we want to employ at work or even our daily lives.

I went through them earlier and applied them to my iPhone. These questions could be applied to any technology: Google Maps, Facebook, EV vehicle, Meta technology, buying a gun (in America) and now…….ChatGPT.

Here are the 41 questions you may want to apply to ChatGPT to get you started. I also applied them and inserted my young grand-daughter on getting her a HP or iPad, and, for me, buying a titanium road bike.  Now your turn.

1. What sort of person will the use of this technology make of me?

2. What habits will the use of this technology instil?

3. How will the use of this technology affect my experience of time?

4. How will the use of this technology affect my experience of place?

5. How will the use of this technology affect how I relate to other people?

6. How will the use of this technology affect how I relate to the world around me?

7. What practices will the use of this technology cultivate?

8. What practices will the use of this technology displace?

9. What will the use of this technology encourage me to notice?

10. What will the use of this technology encourage me to ignore?

11. What was required of other human beings so that I might be able to use this technology?

12. What was required of other creatures so that I might be able to use this technology?

13. What was required of the earth so that I might be able to use this technology?

14. Does the use of this technology bring me joy? [N.B. This was years before I even heard of Marie Kondo!]

15. Does the use of this technology arouse anxiety?

16. How does this technology empower me? At whose expense?

17. What feelings does the use of this technology generate in me toward others?

18. Can I imagine living without this technology? Why, or why not?

19. How does this technology encourage me to allocate my time?

20. Could the resources used to acquire and use this technology be better deployed?

21. Does this technology automate or outsource labor or responsibilities that are morally essential?

22. What desires does the use of this technology generate?

23. What desires does the use of this technology dissipate?

24. What possibilities for action does this technology present? Is it good that these actions are now possible?

25. What possibilities for action does this technology foreclose? Is it good that these actions are no longer possible?

26. How does the use of this technology shape my vision of a good life?

27. What limits does the use of this technology impose upon me?

28. What limits does my use of this technology impose upon others?

29. What does my use of this technology require of others who would (or must) interact with me?

30. What assumptions about the world does the use of this technology tacitly encourage?

31. What knowledge has the use of this technology disclosed to me about myself?

32. What knowledge has the use of this technology disclosed to me about others? Is it good to have this knowledge?

33. What are the potential harms to myself, others, or the world that might result from my use of this technology?

34. Upon what systems, technical or human, does my use of this technology depend? Are these systems just?

35. Does my use of this technology encourage me to view others as a means to an end?

36. Does using this technology require me to think more or less?

37. What would the world be like if everyone used this technology exactly as I use it?

38. What risks will my use of this technology entail for others? Have they consented?

39. Can the consequences of my use of this technology be undone? Can I live with those consequences?

40. Does my use of this technology make it easier to live as if I had no responsibilities toward my neighbour?

41. Can I be held responsible for the actions which this technology empowers? Would I feel better if I couldn’t?

How did it change or alter your thinking and eventual use of ChatGPT or other technology?

The original article by L. M. Sacasas is found here.

In Bali, reflecting on these questions and how “technology” has changed the culture and economy of this beautiful island since I first came here in 1978.

Michael J Griffin
CEO & Founder of ELAvate
Maxwell Leadership Founding Member
Thinker of How Technology Influences the Cultures I Live in!