When we released the Village People Firewall for April Fools’ this year, it was a joke—sort of. Yes, it spoofed the hyper-complex jargon of cybersecurity and metaphysical tech. But underneath the satire was a real critique: most technological revolutions are framed through a Western, highly academic lens. And that’s a problem.
In the era of quantum computing, climate dashboards, and AI models with billions of parameters, a lot of people—most people—are left out of the conversation. Not because they lack intelligence or interest, but because the language, metaphors, and cultural assumptions behind these technologies don’t speak to their lived realities.
Whose Revolution Is It, Anyway?
We talk about carbon footprints, but what does that mean to a farmer in Kano who just wants to increase his yam yield by 30% before the rains stop? We rave about quantum entanglement, but what does that mean to a nine-year-old girl in Dakar who’s more interested in charging her tablet off a solar grid so she can watch cartoons—or maybe, teach herself to code?
The problem isn’t just access. It’s interpretation.
The Western Bias of Tech Discourse
Much of modern technology is developed and discussed within paradigms shaped by Euro-American academia, media, and venture capital. The metaphors we use—“clouds,” “nodes,” “quantum leaps”—are often opaque to anyone who hasn’t been steeped in those specific cultural and educational systems.
And yet, culture is interface. Without the right cultural lens, even the most powerful tools can feel irrelevant or suspicious. That’s what Village People Firewall poked fun at: how absurd it is to think you can roll out innovation without embedding it in cultural logic people understand.
When Quantum Meets Juju
Take the mock research paper we released—The Quantum Spiritual Interface. It was dense with metaphysical jargon and spiritual pseudoscience wrapped in quantum computing lingo. But it hit a nerve because it mirrored how tech often gets presented to the rest of the world: powerful, inaccessible, and totally disconnected from local wisdom.
And yet, what if there’s a real insight here? What if your grandmother’s stories, or your neighborhood herbalist’s rituals, or your community’s shared rhythms, were seen not as folklore but as operating systems? Systems for meaning, safety, identity, and—even—optimization?
Designing with Culture at the Core
Instead of asking, “How do we get more Africans into tech?” we might ask, “What does technology look like when it emerges from African ways of knowing?” What if rural farmers drove climate tech strategy, because they already understand seasonal cycles better than most PhDs? What if the interface for AI wasn’t chat boxes but talking drums, market banter, or shared communal rituals?
Designing from this perspective isn’t just inclusive—it’s more effective. Culture isn’t a distraction from innovation. It’s the operating system beneath it.
Reframing the Frontier
So yes, the Village People Firewall was a joke. But it was also a provocation. If the spiritual internet exists (and honestly, who’s to say it doesn’t?), maybe it starts in places where science hasn’t looked yet. Maybe it listens more than it logs. Maybe it understands that firewalls aren’t just code—they’re prayers, taboos, social contracts.
As we build the future, let’s not just ask what’s possible. Let’s ask possible for whom? Because until we design with cultural context in mind, the biggest breakthroughs may still feel like someone else’s revolution.