In the episode, Professor Sarukkai argues that AI and personalised digital media push us towards hyper-individualism. Each of us gets a feed, a playlist and an assistant shaped around ourselves, and over time that wears down what B. R. Ambedkar called fraternity: the sense of belonging to one another.
He also argues that technologies carry the values of the people who design them, and that much of today's technology is built around control, speed and efficiency. This activity asks you to test that idea on things you actually use. Sort each one, then compare your answer with one possible reading.
Sort the technology
For each one, ask: in the way it is usually designed and used, does it bring people together, pull them apart, or could it go either way?
A video app that picks your next video for you and plays it automatically.
A group chat for your class.
A news feed ranked by what you have clicked on before.
An AI tutor that answers one student's questions at any hour.
A shared document that a whole team edits at once.
A community radio station broadcasting in a local language.
A smartwatch that tracks your sleep, steps and heart rate.
These are one defensible reading, not the answers. The point is to notice who a design serves and what it assumes about people.
Think about it
- Which technology you use daily makes you feel most connected to other people? Which makes you feel most alone?
- If you could redesign one app around fraternity instead of efficiency, what would you change?
- Is it fair to say technology carries the values of its designers? Give an example either way.