Dr Mattia Rattaggi chaired a panel discussion on 'cooperatively developing techno-optimism' at the Horasis Global Summit in São Paulo, held at the USP - Universidade de São Paulo, joined on stage by Bruno Gurgel, Oliver Keilhack, and Wagner Lopes.
Mattia opened by framing digitalization in a long arc: Like the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, today’s Digitalisation is powered by foundational technologies that redefine human possibility (AI, semiconductors, DLT), restructure knowledge and agency, and disrupt economies before new institutions catch up. In every epoch, first movers concentrate advantage; adaptation then widens the gains through governance, education, and a credible cultural narrative of progress.
He also cautioned against excess techno-optimism: The “silver bullet” fallacy that technology alone will fix social and economic problems. That mindset breeds complacency.
After exploring different layers of the society (public sector, private sector, small firms, families, arts, economy, etc), the following common traits emerged:
📣 First, communication and education are the multipliers. We need digital literacy, critical thinking, and transparent dialogue. We need this from classrooms and boardrooms to city halls and community hubs, so people can understand, question, and co-create the technologies that shape their lives.
⏩ Second, speed vs. adoption is the central tension of digitalization. Tech progress is exponential; labor markets, skills, and public administration move on human time. Bridging this “tech sustainability” gap means continuous reskilling, adaptive regulation, and pilot-to-scale pathways that prove value without pausing learning.
⚖️ Third, ethics is not an add-on; it is the operating system. Fairness, inclusion, accountability, and privacy must be designed in, from dataset governance and model audits to interoperability and portability that keep platforms open and value broadly shared.
🌍 We also noted differing priorities across contexts. In developed economies, the task is to modernize mature systems: Enforce interoperability, curb concentration, and share productivity gains. In developing and emerging economies, the focus is leapfrogging: Affordable connectivity, shared compute, open digital public goods, and local capacity-building to retain value.
✅ Techno-optimism is credible only when it is performed, that is when we turn ambition into cooperative action that expands dignity, trust, and opportunity. History doesn’t guarantee success, but it shows the path: Pair speed with stewardship, and let ethics, education, and open institutions carry us from disruption to shared progress.
