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The Need for a Different Worldview
The Power of Worldviews and Paradigms
Conflicting Worldviews and Paradigm Shifts
A Different View of Reality
A Different View of the Economy
A Different View of Science and Technology
A Different View of Medicine
The Need for Increased Awareness
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The Design
of Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Appropriate Technologies
Design Criteria for Environmental Sustainability
Design Criteria for Social Appropriateness
The Prevention of Unintended Consequences
The Democratic Control of Technology
Local Organic Agriculture: A Model of Environmentally
Sustainable and Socially Appropriate Technology
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Critical Science and Social Responsibility
The Myth of Value-Neutrality
A New, Critical Science
The Question of Responsibility
The Problem of Professionalism
The Need for Comprehensive Professional Ethics
Toward a Critical Science and Engineering
Bibliography
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INTRODUCTION
Techno-optimism is pervasive
in our society but hardly justified. In one form or another, we are repeatedly
assured that: “More efficient technology will solve the problem,” “Continued
economic growth is environmentally sustainable,” “High-tech medicine and miracle
drugs will abolish disease,” “More military spending will ensure global peace
and security,” “Biofuels and nuclear power are the solution to global warming,”
“Overpopulation is not a problem — we will employ genetically engineered crops
to feed an unlimited number of people,” “Greater material affluence will
increase happiness,” “We have no choice anyway: technology is an autonomous
force. Whatever can be done technologically, should be and will be done,” “You
can’t put the genie back in the bottle.”
Techno-Fix
confronts these beliefs and many others. It questions a primary paradigm of our
age: that advanced technology alone will extricate us from an ever-increasing
load of social, environmental, and economic ills.
Techno-Fix
shows why
negative unintended consequences of science and technology are inherently
unavoidable and unpredictable, why counter-technologies, techno-fixes, and
efficiency improvements do not offer lasting solutions, and why modern
technology, in the presence of continued economic growth, does not promote
sustainability but instead hastens collapse.
Despite the serious
shortcomings and consequences of past technologies, the public often
uncritically accepts new technology, believing that additional and more advanced
technology will eventually provide satisfactory solutions.
Techno-Fix
analyzes this paradox and asserts that technological optimism and the
unrelenting belief in progress are based on ignorance, that most technological
cost-benefit analyses are biased in favor of new technologies, and that
increasing consumerism and materialism, which have been facilitated by science
and technology, have failed to increase happiness. The common belief that
technological change is inevitable is questioned; the myth of the
value-neutrality of technology is exposed; and the ethics of the technological
imperative “what can be done, should be done” is challenged. Instead, the profit
motive of corporations is identified as the main determinant of the direction of
technological change. Techno-Fix
asserts that science and technology, as
currently practiced, cannot solve the many serious problems we face and that a
paradigm shift is needed to reorient science and technology in a more socially
responsible and environmentally sustainable direction.
Techno-Fix
is one of the few, if not the
only, comprehensive discussions of modern technology written not by
philosophers, historians, or journalists, but by two inside observers of the
technological scene. Michael holds a doctorate in chemical engineering and has
an extensive background in environmental science, economics, and business, as
well as more than 25 years’ experience in environmental research. Joyce holds a
doctorate in applied mathematics and a master’s degree in anthropology. Being
educated and experienced in science and engineering, the authors are uniquely
positioned to deliver an insightful and powerful critique of modern technology.
The readers of
Techno-Fix
will learn a number of inconvenient truths about science and technology, topics
that are rarely, if ever, covered in the media or discussed among professionals.
Readers will be challenged to re-examine their current worldviews, their
paradigms and assumptions about the so-called promises of modern technology. But
they will also enjoy their newly gained knowledge, and will feel empowered and
inspired by the fact that most problems confronting humanity have inherently
simple, low-tech solutions that do not rely on excessive technology.
Who should read
Techno-Fix?
Anyone interested in protecting nature; anyone concerned about the effects of
technology on society and the environment; anyone teaching or studying science,
engineering, medicine, or related disciplines; anyone intending to create a
better future.
The following is a brief
overview of the chapters.
Part I:
Technology and its Limitations addresses a number of important questions
regarding modern technology: What kind of unintended environmental and social
consequences are associated with advanced technologies? Could they have been
predicted and avoided? Are counter-technologies, social fixes and efficiency
improvements really effective in solving the problems brought about by modern
science and technology? Does increasing technology promote sustainability or
accelerate collapse?
Chapter 1:
The Inherent Unavoidability and Unpredictability of Unintended Consequences
postulates that there are always positive and negative effects of any
technology. It is impossible for humans to substantially modify natural systems
without creating unanticipated and undesirable consequences. Furthermore,
technological consequences may become irreversible if the magnitude and speed of
change is greater than the adaptive capacity of the environment, ourselves or
other species. Finally, modern science, because of its foundation of mechanistic
reductionism, is intrinsically unable to predict all deleterious side effects.
Chapter 2: When Things Bite
Back explores, in
depth, some of the many unintended environmental and social consequences of
modern technologies, from environmental pollution, global warming, species
extinction, topsoil loss, and ecological disruptions by genetically engineered
organisms, to social alienation, death and destruction brought about by
chemical, nuclear and other high-tech weaponry, antibiotic resistance, human
overpopulation and the decline in biological fitness.
Chapter 3:
Technology, Exploitation and Fairness advances the thesis that many
technologies are regrettably used for control and exploitation of both humans
and the environment, leading inevitably to detrimental consequences for those
exploited.
Chapter 4:
In Search of Solutions I: Counter-technologies and Social Fixes discusses
the limitations of technologies that attempt to counter the negative effects of
previous technologies and also shows why technological solutions to social,
economic, political, and psychological problems are often ineffective because
they generally address symptoms rather than causes.
Chapter 5: In Search of
Solutions II: Efficiency Improvements
analyzes a wide range of historical data to demonstrate that most efficiency
improvements have not been able to halt or reverse the growth in the use of
limited resources but instead accelerate their consumption, a phenomenon called
the rebound effect or Jevon’s paradox.
Chapter 6: Sustainability or
Collapse? argues
that there are at least three critical technological challenges that must be met
in order to produce long-term sustainability: avoiding serious environmental
impacts associated with the large-scale generation of renewable energy,
replacing non-renewable materials with renewable substitutes and completely
recycling non-renewable materials and wastes.
Part II: The Uncritical
Acceptance of Technology addresses key questions
relating to the naïve acceptance of new technologies despite the many negative
consequences and limitations discussed in Part I. Why do we believe in
technological progress? Is the current exuberant technological optimism
justified by the evidence? Are technology assessments and cost-benefit analyses
really objective and unbiased? Why do we still believe that increasing material
affluence will increase happiness despite evidence to the contrary? Is
technology value-neutral and autonomous, as is often claimed? Is it prudent to
follow the technological imperative “Whatever can be done, will be and should be
done”? How democratic is technological decision making? Should profit
maximization remain the primary criterion for the selection of new technologies?
Chapter 7:
Technological Optimism and Belief in Progress postulates that belief in
progress exhibits characteristics similar to those of religious faith and that
most techno-optimism is based on ignorance, enabling the corporate-controlled
mass media to present new technologies and products in an overly favorable light
to a gullible public.
Chapter 8:
The Positive Bias of Technology Assessments and Cost-Benefit Analyses
demonstrates how each step in the standard cost-benefit analysis procedure has
intrinsic problems and ambiguities, some of which are specifically exploited,
knowingly or unknowingly, to produce positive recommendations for the
development and diffusion of technologies even when they are of marginal or of
no benefit.
Chapter 9:
Happiness provides extensive evidence that material affluence,
consumerism and economic growth brought about by advances in science and
technology have failed to improve psychological well-being and, at the same
time, have weakened or destroyed many non-materialistic and traditional sources
of happiness.
Chapter 10:
The Uncritical Acceptance of New Technologies discusses five topics
related to the widespread belief in the inevitability of technological change:
the myth of value-neutrality, the technological imperative, the loss of freedom
and technological dependency, the myth of autonomous technology, and the
undemocratic control of technology.
Chapter 11:
Profit Motive: The Main Driver of Technological Development demonstrates
that profit maximization does not necessarily lead to the development of
technologies and products best suited to meet the needs of people in terms of
food, health or security.
Part III: The Next Scientific
and Technological Revolution
poses critical questions about the future of science and technology. Because
most problems caused by science and technology in the past were created within
the dominant worldview characterized by excessive individualism and the goals of
control and exploitation, a paradigm shift to a different view of reality is
needed to solve fundamental problems. A more realistic paradigm would lead to a
change in the form of economic activities as well as to changes in the practice
of science and technology. How could such a paradigm shift be brought about? Can
technologies be designed to be environmentally sustainable and socially
appropriate, while minimizing unintended consequences? What are the
characteristics of a self-correcting, critical science? Do science and
engineering professionals have social responsibilities?
Chapter 12:
The Need for A Different Worldview suggests a shift is needed to a
different view of reality, one which is based on the fact of interconnectedness
rather than the illusion of separateness, a view which would result in a
change from a growth economy to a steady-state economy and to a change in how
science is performed, technology applied and medicine practiced.
Chapter 13:
The Design of Environmentally Sustainable and Socially Appropriate
Technologies suggests specific environmental and social design criteria for
new technologies, the importance of the precautionary principle in preventing
unintended consequences, and the need for a more democratic control of
technology.
Chapter 14:
Critical Science and Social Responsibility outlines ways to increase the
awareness of scientists and engineers regarding their social responsibilities as
well as ways to transform current science into a critical, self-reflective and
self-correcting science.
The arguments advanced in
Techno-Fix are supported by extensive research, with more than 1,200
footnotes citing at least 600 references, primarily from peer-reviewed academic
publications. Key points are also supported by quotations from authorities and
original thinkers such as Rachel Carson, Barry Commoner, Herman Daly, Paul and
Anne Ehrlich, David Korten, Jerry Mander, Donella Meadows, Jeremy Rifkin, E.F.
Schumacher, and E.O. Wilson. In the Appendix, suggestions “For Further Thought”
invite readers to engage in critical analyses themselves.
The opinions expressed in this
book are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of the
authors’ current or previous employers, their clients, or the U.S. government.
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