To my fellow humans,
I don’t know about you, but I am very confused about technology right now.
One day I’m brimming with energy and excitement, like AI is opening up a new world of possibility for me. But the next day, I’m convinced the best option is to hurl my phone and computer into a volcano.
But neither of those extremes feels particularly useful. I have no desire to live as a techno-utopian or a Luddite. For me, the way forward is the middle path. The secret third thing.
But the question remains… how? As the public conversation around AI gets noisier and faster and more extreme, I’ve been wanting a space away from the chaos to think deeply about my relationship with technology. A place to sit with questions like “what do I, Rob Hardy, actually want out of this life?” and “given that, how can I use technology in a wise, discerning way?”
There are no one-size-fits-all answers. Each of us has to wrestle with those questions for ourselves. But I don’t think we have to do that alone. In fact, I suspect we’d all learn more and deepen our understanding of the middle path if we walked it together. So I’m building that space.
It’s called Befriending Technology, and it’s part book club, part communal writing space, part discussion group, part show-and-tell, and part whatever else we decide to do with it.
Over two months, we’ll read two books—one that’s optimistic about tech and the other that’s not. We’ll read and write about the tensions between those books, and reflect on our own experiences with technology. We’ll share earnestly what we’re uncovering, and have lots of juicy conversations along the way.
For me, I’ll be reading Kevin Kelly’s The Inevitable as my optimistic book, and Paul Kingsnorth’s Against The Machine as the dissenting tome. But if other books call to you, please sub them in. There are a ton of great books in this genre, and the more diversity of ideas the merrier.
I’ve added more details below, but for now, I’ll add that this is an experience I’ve wanted for myself all year, and I’m excited to start walking the middle path more intentionally. If it calls to you, I hope you’ll join me.
October 12th, 2026