In his presentation at TED, Kevin Kelly (editor of Wired Magazine) posits the question, “What does technology want?” and then goes on to offer his thoughts. While he has many ideas on the subject he offers an incomplete picture, and that’s a good thing. His insights lead to other questions such as, “how does/should technology fit in our lives?” That isn’t anything new but by combining his ideas that technology can be thought of as the 7th kingdom of life then you might come to some further understanding on your own.

His presentation is like one of those movies that has no definitive ending and leaves the “what happens next” up to the audience to decide. He simply offers a new context in which to think about these old questions.

From the TED website:
Kevin Kelly traces the remarkable similarities between the evolution of biology and technology, ultimately declaring technology the “7th kingdom of life.” He poses an intriguing question: “What does technology want?” As we hurdle forward, evolving increasingly complex, biological and independent machines, how will it affect our humanity? Kelly, widely regarded as an expert on digital culture, has played leading roles at the Whole Earth Review (editor), Wired Magazine (founding executive editor), the WELL (co-founder), and the All-Species Foundation (co-founder). He’s author of several books, including Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World. (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 20:39)