Techno Optimism vs. Techno Pessimism: What could possibly go wrong?

If anything defines us as modern humans it is the degree to which we apply scientific knowledge to accomplish our goals. Long gone are the days when we chipped away at flint blocks to make hand axes, and it has been a couple centuries since we wrote important documents on parchment with quill pens. Technology today amplifies the power of our hands and brains to move mountains. It helps us store knowledge in endless strings of 1s and 0s recorded on silicon wafers. Now the pressing question is: can technological advances save us from ourselves? It’s pretty clear we won’t be able to cram more than eight billion people on the planet without embracing some sustainable technology. We can’t heat billions of stoves with wood cut from forests, or with fossil fuels whose emissions cook the planet. Would rapidly oscillating magnetic fields powered by renewable energy do the trick? But some new technologies might be more hot air (or hot hydrogen) than real solutions. How much should we trust our political leaders and captains of industry as we figure out a way to survive without ruining our biosphere? In this issue, we take inspiration from Elizabeth Kolbert’s book “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future” to look at how we could solve some of our most urgent environmental challenges through technological solutions, including some that could cost more in human and ecological terms than perhaps we should pay. Luckily, reading this issue is a low risk endeavor. You can trust us.