Jacques Ellul: A Prophet for Our Tech-Saturated Times
By Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee
By now you have probably read about the so-called “tech backlash.” Facebook and other social media have undermined what’s left of the illusion of de…
Tag: techno-optimists
No Farm Future, No Growth Future, No Farmer Future: a SFF bulletin
By Chris Smaje, Small Farm Future
My feeling on the contrary is that only by properly inhabiting that romance and re-enchanting the relationship between people and land as a precious food-giving resource will the problems George identifies be solvable.
Driverless Cars and the Cult of Technology
By Andy Singer, Strong Towns
It’s futile to argue with a fantasy but, even if driverless cars could become widespread, why would I want more technology when all I need is denser, car-free, walkable cities where jobs, goods and services are closer together?
Pulling the Magical Lever
By Rut Elliot Blomqvist, Uneven Earth
A critical approach to utopian imaginaries is essential for any rethinking of political futures; without it, we risk being trapped in the same old stories even as we see ourselves as thinking outside the old story box.
‘Enlightenment Now’ Rationalizes the Violence of Empire
By Vijay Kolinjivadi, The Conversation
I believe Pinker’s mechanical understanding of environmental problems in the age of climate change and massive species loss to be irresponsible. We need to counter Pinker’s view with a broader understanding of what our relationship to nature and to each other has been within the context of Western “progress.”
The Cult of Innovation: Its Colorful Myths and Rituals
By Langdon Winner, Langdon Winner blog
The god term I have in mind is, of course, “innovation.” The word derives from the Latin innovare, which means "to renew" or “to restore.” In everyday speech the word has come to mean something like: the activity of bringing new things into being that will generate sweeping renewal throughout the world.
Beware of the Techno-Optimists!
By Gunnar Rundgren, Garden Earth
The messages of the techno-optimists are both deceptive and dangerous as it makes people believe that most problems can be solved by technological innovation which in turn make them passive in the political, social and economic arena.
Stairway to Heaven
By Albert Bates, The Great Change
Technocornucopians see the world of the future as a great 3D printer with an unlimited supply reservoir.
A Degrowth Response to an Ecomodernist Manifesto
By Jeremy L. Caradonna et al, Jeremy L. Caradonna, Resilience.org
From a degrowth perspective, technology is not viewed as a magical savior since many technologies actually accelerate environmental decline.
The central contradiction in the modern outlook: ‘Planet of the Apes’ vs ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights
When talking about the perils of climate change or resource depletion, soil degradation or fisheries collapse, water pollution or nuclear waste--how annoying it is to have one listener respond dismissively, "They'll figure something out. They always have."
The Anthropocene and Techno-Utopia
By Alex Smith, Radio Ecoshock
From Berlin, top enviro journalist Christian Schwagerl on his controversial new book The Anthropocene: The Human Era and How It Shapes Our Planet. Then two eco-feminists, Charlene Spratnak and Susan Griffin on "Techno-Utopianism and the Fate of the Earth."
The Illusion of Invincibility
By John Michael Greer, The Archdruid Report
One of the wry amusements to be had from writing a blog that routinely contradicts the conventional wisdom of our time is the way that defenders of that same conventional wisdom tend to react. You might think that those who are repeating what most people believe would take advantage of that fact, and present themselves as the voice of the majority, speaking for the collective consensus of our time. In the nearly seven years since I started this blog, though, the number of times that’s happened can be counted neatly on the fingers of one foot.