{"product_id":"from-pessimism-to-promise-lessons-from-the-global-south-on-designing-inclusive-tech-9780262049306","title":"From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech","description":"\u003cb\u003eA radical paradigm shift in the way we think about AI and tech, taking hope and inspiration from the aspirational users of new technologies around the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen it comes to tech, the mainstream headlines are bleak: Algorithms control and oppress. AI will destroy democracy and our social fabric, and possibly even drive us to extinction. While legitimate concerns drive these fears, we need to equally account for the fact that tech affords young people something incredibly valuable--a rare space for self-actualization. In \u003ci\u003eFrom Pessimism to Promise\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning author Payal Arora explains that, outside the West, where most of the world's youth reside, there is a significant different outlook on tech: in fact, there is a contagion of optimism toward all things digital. These users, especially those in marginalized contexts, are full of hope for new tech. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs AI disrupts sectors across industries, education, and beyond, who better to shine the light forward, Arora argues, than the Global South, the navigator of all manner of forced disruptions, leapfrogging obstructive systems, norms, and practices to rapidly reinvent itself? Drawing on field insights in diverse global contexts such as Brazil, India, and Bangladesh, Payal describes what drives Gen Z to embrace new technologies. \u003ci\u003eFrom Pessimism to Promise\u003c\/i\u003e discusses the shift to relationally-driven approaches to design; how to create \"algorithms of aspiration\"; how to reimagine the digital space for sex, pleasure, and care; and, what we can learn from feminist digital activists and women's collectives in the Global South on shared digital provenance and value, as well as indigenous approaches to sustainability, that challenges sacred ideas on degrowth, circular economy, and the doughnut economy. Arora also takes heart in the power in numbers, as the users from the majority world infuse algorithms with everyday aspirations, pushing for a new digital order. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTimely and urgent\u003ci\u003e, From Pessimism to Promise\u003c\/i\u003e makes a deeply compelling case that it is not na?ve to be optimistic about our digital future. On the contrary, it is our moral imperative to design with hope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePayal Arora is a digital anthropologist, consultant, TEDx speaker, and author of the award-winning book \u003ci\u003eThe Next Billion Users\u003c\/i\u003e. Forbes named her the \"next billion champion\" and the \"right kind of person to reform tech.\" She is Professor of Inclusive AI Cultures at Utrecht University\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eand cofounder of FemLab, a feminist future of work initiative.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50878028316946,"sku":"9780262049306","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_104864e3-c150-4fe7-adb7-8c274dbfe1f9.jpg?v=1738187625","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/from-pessimism-to-promise-lessons-from-the-global-south-on-designing-inclusive-tech-9780262049306","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}