"Many people see technology as the problem behind the so-called digital divide. Others see it as the solution. Technology is neither. It must operate in conjunction with business, economic, political and social system"
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Fiorina’s line is a neat rebuke to Silicon Valley’s favorite fairy tale: that a shiny device can either ruin society or rescue it. By calling the “digital divide” “so-called,” she flags the phrase as a slogan that’s gotten too tidy for the mess it claims to describe. The divide isn’t simply a gap in gadgets; it’s a gap in leverage. Who gets to turn access into opportunity, and who gets stuck with access that’s mostly consumption?
The rhetorical move that matters is her refusal to let technology be cast as a moral actor. “Technology is neither” strips it of villain/hero status and pushes responsibility back onto institutions. That’s the subtext: if you’re angry about inequality, don’t scapegoat the tool; interrogate the systems that decide where broadband is built, which schools get updated hardware, what jobs exist in a region, and who can afford time to learn new skills. If you’re selling “tech as salvation,” don’t pretend a rollout equals progress; ask what happens when adoption collides with stagnant wages, weak labor protections, or discriminatory lending.
The context is late-1990s/early-2000s corporate optimism, when “closing the digital divide” became a bipartisan mantra and a marketing pitch. As a tech executive, Fiorina also has skin in the framing: by defining technology as neutral infrastructure, she casts business and government as co-authors of outcomes, not passive spectators. It’s pragmatic, but also strategic: it defends innovation while demanding the harder work of aligning markets, policy, and social trust so the benefits don’t pool at the top.
The rhetorical move that matters is her refusal to let technology be cast as a moral actor. “Technology is neither” strips it of villain/hero status and pushes responsibility back onto institutions. That’s the subtext: if you’re angry about inequality, don’t scapegoat the tool; interrogate the systems that decide where broadband is built, which schools get updated hardware, what jobs exist in a region, and who can afford time to learn new skills. If you’re selling “tech as salvation,” don’t pretend a rollout equals progress; ask what happens when adoption collides with stagnant wages, weak labor protections, or discriminatory lending.
The context is late-1990s/early-2000s corporate optimism, when “closing the digital divide” became a bipartisan mantra and a marketing pitch. As a tech executive, Fiorina also has skin in the framing: by defining technology as neutral infrastructure, she casts business and government as co-authors of outcomes, not passive spectators. It’s pragmatic, but also strategic: it defends innovation while demanding the harder work of aligning markets, policy, and social trust so the benefits don’t pool at the top.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
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