The man, a retiree of about 70 years old, wanted to change the electric fare of the summer apartment. The employee explained to him politely that he had already had the right rate for this. The procedures were initiated and the employee requested an email address. The man made a gesture of surprise. “I don’t have it.” He said it out loud enough that we could hear the ones we were waiting for. The employee said, smiling: “Really?” Laughs and murmurs had already spread in the office.

A strange sensation took hold of me. It seemed strange, strange, that in these times I lived without email. The lack of these tools, on the other hand, was making it difficult to carry out a normal thing – the change in electricity rates. But at the same time, I noticed a point of envy from me (us? ). What would life be like without depending on the technological resources of recent years?

Information technology and other technological developments have made things easier for human beings, but not for everyone! But along with the advantages, they have also brought us some addictions: we can't live without mobile or email, which forces us to always be attentive and attentive to them.

Private companies and public administrations also act in the same direction: laws present us as a right the use of technological advances in communications and formalities, but gradually it is becoming an obligation which was originally an opportunity.

And the role of social networks is also becoming decisive in democracy: social networks have opted for democracy and are behaving in the world, but, precisely because of their democratic capacity, the risk of universal control is increasing.

Catalan economist Xavier Sala i Martín does not neglect technological innovations. In line with the book just presented by La invasió dels robots i altres relats d’Economia en colors, he tells us that innovations are inevitable and that it must be recognized as such. But it recognizes that innovations are getting faster and faster and that there are people affected by the same innovations and by their speed. Sala i Martín is not a left-wing activist – the American professor at Columbia University is always invited to Davos meetings – but he says that it is necessary to create mechanisms to help advance those affected by the “generating destruction” that innovations bring with them. And you have to do it for two reasons: for ethics and for selfishness.

The man I mentioned at the beginning gave his daughter’s address to change the electricity rate…