The FDA is currently considering clinical trials for a drug that would delay aging. The idea of extending human longevity is a controversial one, with some arguing for immortality and others arguing that a lifespan into the mid-70s is perfectly adequate.

So is the drug good or bad? As an investor in science and technology, this is a non-trivial question for me. With the accelerating pace of technological progress and are incredibly powerful tools of creation, this question has never been more relevant for everyone on planet Earth.

Personally, I have always thought that anything that would help us all live longer, healthier lives is a good technology. But what I consider to be “good” differs from what others do — sometimes significantly. My opinions, like all of us, are informed by my values, beliefs, circumstances, life experiences and myriad other variables.

So if everyone’s ideas of good and bad are different, how can we decide how to do good with technology? In exploring this, I realized this may be the wrong starting point. Instead, the following may be a better guide: The best way to do good with technology is to build good technology. But, failures happen when our values don’t match those of the groups we’re trying to influence, or the approach is suboptimal in producing the best possible technology.

A new generation of entrepreneurs is now turning its attention from solving discrete business problems to solving the world’s problems, with a variety of funds, initiatives and foundations (and many with a hacker mindset). So how can we leverage individual and collective resources to build and deploy good technology?

Read the full article about technology for social good by Bryan Johnson at Church and State