Learnings from “Technology, the Endless Riddle” with Karn Sun

During the final day of the YxY Festival (Day 3 theme: Showing Up: How do we start/continue to show up in these times?) we were fortunate enough to host Karn Sun for a session titled: Technology, the Endless Riddle. Karn is an educator and advisory Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with global experience researching and building at the intersection of education and technology in for-and-nonprofit entities. Today, her work focuses on understanding how to make wise, life-conscientious decisions with technology, and especially how to bring that inquiry into educational and governmental spaces. 

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Her session was a rumination on how technology has shaped how we interact with reality, and in particular, how it has shaped our notions of human development. What type of technological terrain has society laid out for us to traverse? What are some ways to think about how technology has or hasn't touched education? But most importantly, what is the role of technology in the most beautiful world our hearts know is possible?

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Karn began by sharing that as someone who has spent over 20 years working at the intersection of technology, education, and social change, she’s been grappling with a fundamental question: What is truly the role of technology in our future, especially as educators and activists imagining radical futures? More specifically, can technology actually create profound intimacy, rather than just productivity and extraction?

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We explored how the dictionary definition of technology reveals something telling: it's fundamentally about finding simple, reproducible applications of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals that can be scaled. This focus on reproducibility and scale creates an inherent tension with human complexity and uniqueness. Ultimately, technology is a paradox.

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While technology promises personalisation, it often delivers standardisation. Where it promises decentralisation, it frequently leads to new forms of centralisation. These are some of the paradoxes Karn highlighted:

• Scale vs. Sacredness: In trying to provide wider access, we often commoditised what was once precious
• Connection vs. Isolation: Tools meant to connect us can lead to profound loneliness
• Personalisation vs. Standardisation: Efforts to meet individual needs often result in one-size-fits-all solutions

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Using the Common Values Map developed by Shalom Schwartz, Karn posited that most of what we do with technology is trying to optimise one of these values; however, this is often while undermining other values. For instance, pursuing security through surveillance technology directly conflicts with self-direction and freedom. Similarly, striving for universalism through digital access can inadvertently push people toward achievement-oriented value systems they never chose.

For educators and activists, these paradoxes create particular challenges. We want to provide equal access to educational opportunities, but what happens when that access channels people into systems that fundamentally reshape their values and aspirations? We want to mobilise for social change, but when does our use of digital platforms shift from genuine connection to mere broadcasting?

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Rather than seeking simple sleek solutions, Karn prompted that perhaps our task is to hold these paradoxes consciously. As we work toward the most beautiful world our hearts know is possible, we must constantly ask:

• What are we actually reinforcing through our use of technology?
• How can we pursue equality without falling into progress traps?
• When are we engineering versus sensing?
• How do we honor tradition while embracing change?

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The endless frontier of technology doesn't have to be about pushing boundaries ever outward. Instead, it could be about developing the wisdom to navigate these paradoxes with greater awareness and intention. The questions we’re asking ourselves can’t be whether to use technology, because in our modern world that's largely inevitable. The questions should be how to use it wisely, with full awareness of its paradoxes, so that we truly serve the values and futures we wish to create.

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Watch Karn’s session here.

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We offer our gratitude and a big thank you to Karn Sun for hosting this brilliant session at the YxY Learning Festival and for weaving and sharing this work with us.