You’re Not Behind. You’re Not Late. You’ve Been Intentionally Denied: (TPPD™) is thing.
If it feels like the future arrived without you, you’re not imagining it. The system was built to leave you unprepared.
“I just can’t keep up.”
“Maybe I’m too old, too late, too far behind.”
“Tech’s changing so fast… but also nothing seems to change at all.”
If you’ve ever felt this way, pause here.
Breathe…
You’re not confused. You’re not broken.
You’ve been disoriented—by design.
This is what I call Technological Progress Paradigm Dissonance™.
Or TPPD™ for short.
And it might be the most important thing to name before we can do any real work to dismantle oppression in the age of AI.
What is TPPD™?
Technological Progress Paradigm Dissonance™ (TPPD™) is a state of engineered confusion.
It’s what happens when the people who build and control emerging technologies teach you that progress is slow, neutral, and far away—even while they themselves deploy it at exponential speed to reshape the world.
It’s a cognitive trap. A fog. A form of psychological conditioning.
And its purpose is simple:
To keep you dreaming about a future you’re not being trained to participate in.
How TPPD™ Shows Up
Let’s name it clearly, so you can see it for what it is:
• You’re told AI is “still emerging,” but it’s already being used to deny housing, assign prison sentences, and profile children.
• You’re told “access” is about laptops and Wi-Fi, while your data is training the very tools you’re excluded from controlling.
• You’re told “the future is inclusive,” but no one teaches you how to read, question, or rebuild the systems driving it.
You’re told to be excited, but not equipped.
You’re invited to the party, but not the planning.
That’s TPPD™.
“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to misrepresent them.” - Karl Marx (adapted here for predictive tech governance)
Where TPPD™ Comes From
It’s not new.
It’s just evolved.
TPPD™ is the modern digital expression of older conditioning techniques:
Colonial schooling that trained colonized people to serve—not lead.
Media psy-ops that told Black communities their suffering was self-inflicted.
DEI programs that teach access without ownership, and inclusion without autonomy.
Tech outreach that stops at consumer use, never infrastructure literacy.
Intentional Undereducation (I said what I said) and miseducation about how technology works.
Promotion of Vocational Education, trade employment and training without technology tracks, mentoring or apprenticeships
“Consumer Education” which was actually consumer conditioning.
This is how TPPD™ works:
It doesn’t just withhold tools. It replaces your sense of urgency with numbness, novelty, or resignation.
What It Feels Like
Shame for not “keeping up”
Cynicism about ever “catching up”
Dismissal of AI because it feels too abstract or complicated.
Guilt for being too tired, suspicious, or disengaged to learn
Fear that speaking up means sounding “dumb,” “angry,” or “paranoid”
But here’s the truth:
If you’ve been surviving oppression in any form, you already understand how TPPD™ operates. You’ve just never been given the language for it.
Until now.
Disentangling from TPPD and Dismantling It
You don’t need a tech degree.
You don’t need a coding boot camp experience (but they don’t hurt)
You don’t need to become an engineer or a software expert
You just need to recover your right to see, name, and intervene in the systems shaping your life.
Here’s how we start:
• Step 1: Notice the dissonance and maybe disassociation…
When something doesn’t add up—say so. Write it down. Ask questions.
• Step 2: Learn in community as often as possible.
(I’m building one for us!)
TPPD™ isolates. Healing it requires conversation, trust, and collective clarity.
• Step 3: Reclaim curiosity.
Ask: Why was I taught this tool or technology was too complex? Who benefits when I stay disengaged?
• Step 4: Build and practice new reflexes.
Whenever a new tech trend is presented, ask: Who designed it? Who profits from it? Who is it failing or punishing?
“To survive in the mouth of this dragon we call America, we have had to learn this first and most vital lesson—that we were never meant to survive.” - Audre Lorde
TPPD™ is not your fault.
But breaking free from it is your right.
If This Resonates:
• Bookmark this post and share it with someone who’s quietly feeling left behind.
• Join our framework series coming soon!
• Read the deeper exploration: coming May 24th!
And remember:
You are not too late.
You are not alone.
You are already ahead of the system that hoped you wouldn’t notice.