"Technological advances could allow us to see more clearly into our own lives"
About this Quote
The subtext is classic Kelly: tech isn’t merely disruptive, it’s revelatory. Think of quantified-self trackers, recommendation engines, photo archives, search histories, location logs, even AI that can summarize your past month of messages into a mood map. These tools don’t just record behavior; they force a confrontation with it. You might learn you don’t sleep as well as you insist you do, that your “quick check” of social media is an hour, that your calendar reflects obligations more than choices. Clarity becomes a new kind of mirror, less flattering and harder to argue with.
Context matters: as an editor and longtime tech evangelist, Kelly tends to frame innovation as an expansion of human capability rather than a moral apocalypse. That’s also the tension in the quote. “Could” signals contingency: these advances can illuminate, but they can also surveil, monetize, and manipulate. The promise of sharper self-vision arrives bundled with a question he leaves hanging: who controls the lens, and what do they want us to see?
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Kelly, Kevin. (2026, January 16). Technological advances could allow us to see more clearly into our own lives. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/technological-advances-could-allow-us-to-see-more-129825/
Chicago Style
Kelly, Kevin. "Technological advances could allow us to see more clearly into our own lives." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/technological-advances-could-allow-us-to-see-more-129825/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Technological advances could allow us to see more clearly into our own lives." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/technological-advances-could-allow-us-to-see-more-129825/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.






