The Ever Growing Tech Sector in NYC

This week’s readings focus on the benefits of technological innovation for New York specifically. It used to be that New York’s finance sector was the one that brought in the most revenue and were responsible for the city’s economic booms. However, now it’s the tech sector that’s taking over New York’s economy. According to the article by Calderone, with the increases in technological innovation, the costs of starting a business are much lower and so more businesses are being developed with many becoming successful. New York has the benefit of having many major tech companies and offices located here such as Etsy, Buzzfeed, and Spotify to name a few. The tech sector in New York is also growing with a speed that greatly outpaces the rest of the country, growing by 57% from 2007 to 2014. With this growth came the city’s most recent economic boom and its surge towards being one of the top tech cities.

There is a great debate going on about whether technological innovation’s benefits outweigh the costs and exactly how beneficial it could be.

I think that technology can be very beneficial. such as with CivicTech, technology “used for public good and betters the lives of the many, not just the few,” as well as “an interoperable, extensible platform for government upon which anyone can build services that increase transparency, efficiency and participation,” (Grodeska). It aims to better communities and improve the public good. This is when technology can be extremely beneficial.
However, there are also the downsides to technological innovation. While those who are in the tech sector are enjoying the benefits that come with it, those who do not make their living from there are the ones burdened with the negative costs. According to Streitfeld, overcrowded cities come with higher demands for living space and therefore higher rent fees as well as congestion in the streets and subways. Groups are being evicted in favor of start-ups. While the wealthy get wealthier in the tech sector, everyone else is struggling to afford the rising costs of living in the city.

After reading all of the articles, I’m not sure if I’m a techno-pessimist or a techno-optimist anymore. I think that, although technological innovation comes with a ton of benefits to many people and communities, we also have to look at the costs of the innovation and whether the benefits outweigh the costs for the nation as a whole and not just a small group.