Introduction: The Promise and Pitfalls of Techno-solutionism

Abstract

Rarely does a day pass without us being reminded of the social, economic, and environmental challenges we now face. The pandemic highlighted challenges related to radical inequalities, for example, with regard to capacities for producing and procuring vaccines. Simultaneously, we can no longer avoid being exposed to the reality of various environmental challenges threatening to drastically alter the trajectory of our future as a species. Climate change and the loss of biological diversity are two key issues. These challenges are continually being assessed and attempted tackled, and technology is often heralded as the cure for our ills. By developing new technologies and solutions, we can add to existing technologies to solve the challenges created by more primitive technologies. The result is a socio-technical system in which the technical elements are ever more complicated, and its effective operation is increasingly important for the prospects of humankind, our environment, and all other species that happen to coinhabit this world of ours. This gives rise to questions regarding humanity’s fundamental relationship with technology. Is it a curse, a cure, or both?