We Don’t Just Use Technology. We Live Inside It.
One of the most persistent myths about technology is that it sits outside of us—that humans are biological beings who occasionally pick up tools or devices. In our latest episode of Modem Futura, guest Clark Miller offers a more unsettling—and far more useful—idea: we are techno-humans.
Our bodies, behaviors, cities, and futures are deeply entangled with the systems we’ve built. The air we breathe, the electricity that keeps us alive in extreme heat, the infrastructures that quietly shape how we move, work, and survive—none of these are optional add-ons anymore. They are us.
Using Phoenix as a case study, the conversation explores how energy infrastructure has become both invisible and essential. Reliable electricity enables modern life, yet that very reliability hides fragility. When systems fail—during heat waves, blackouts, or climate extremes—the consequences are immediate and human. Thousands of lives can hinge on a few hours without power.
Clark reframes the clean energy transition as a design problem, not a simple race for better technology. Solar panels, batteries, nuclear power—these are necessary but insufficient. The real questions are: Who owns the infrastructure? Who benefits? Who is left exposed? And what kinds of futures are being quietly locked in by today’s policy decisions?
One striking example: rooftop solar can generate enormous value—but current rules often restrict ownership to utilities and homeowners, excluding renters and reinforcing inequality. These aren’t technical constraints. They’re design choices.
The episode also challenges how we educate future engineers, policymakers, and innovators. Traditional engineering focuses on performance and efficiency, while social impacts are treated as secondary. But in a world of climate risk, AI acceleration, and planetary-scale systems, that separation no longer works. We need new forms of “engineering-adjacent” thinking—approaches that integrate technology, human behavior, governance, and ethics from the start.
This isn’t a dystopian conversation. It’s an invitation. If we learn to see ourselves as techno-humans—and accept responsibility for the systems we inhabit—we may still have the capacity to design futures where people don’t just survive, but thrive.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Modem Futura to explore what that could look like.
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🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4qGMjG6
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gD4VqOXrTQ2bI73n72fZv?si=2KhStFa5SBq9A3HnjAGdFw
📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/IAOzv4kcp0M
🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/