Technological fix

A technological fix, technical fix, technological shortcut or (techno-)solutionism is an attempt to use engineering or technology to solve a problem (often created by earlier technological interventions). The term “technological fix” was coined in the mid-1960s and popularized by the American physicist Alvin Weinberg, who defined it as "a means for resolving a societal problem by adroit use of technology and with little or no alteration of social behavior.” Some references consider that technological fixes are inevitable in modern technology, since it has been observed that many technologies, although invented and developed to solve certain perceived problems, often create other problems in the process, known as externalities. In this regard, technological fixes are viewed as an "attempt to repair the harm of a technology by modification of the system", that might involve modification of the machine and/or modification of the procedures for operating and maintaining it. In other words, there would be modification of the basic hardware, modification of techniques and procedures, or both. The technological fix is the idea that all problems can find solutions in better and new technologies.…

A technological fix, technical fix, technological shortcut or (techno-)solutionism is an attempt to use engineering or technology to solve a problem (often created by earlier technological interventions). The term “technological fix” was coined in the mid-1960s and popularized by the American physicist Alvin Weinberg, who defined it as "a means for resolving a societal problem by adroit use of technology and with little or no alteration of social behavior.” Some references consider that technological fixes are inevitable in modern technology, since it has been observed that many technologies, although invented and developed to solve certain perceived problems, often create other problems in the process, known as externalities. In this regard, technological fixes are viewed as an "attempt to repair the harm of a technology by modification of the system", that might involve modification of the machine and/or modification of the procedures for operating and maintaining it. In other words, there would be modification of the basic hardware, modification of techniques and procedures, or both. The technological fix is the idea that all problems can find solutions in better and new technologies. It now is used as a dismissive phrase to describe cheap, quick fixes by using inappropriate technologies; these fixes often create more problems than they solve or give people a sense that they have solved the problem. ==Contemporary context== In the contemporary context, technological fix is sometimes used to refer to the idea of using data and intelligent algorithms to supplement and improve human decision making in the hope that this would result in ameliorating the bigger problem. One critic, Evgeny Morozov defines this as "Recasting all complex social situations either as neat problems with definite, computable solutions or as transparent and self-evident processes that can be easily optimized –— only the right algorithms are in place." Morozov has defined this perspective as an ideology that is especially prevalent in Silicon Valley, and named it "solutionism". While some criticize this approach to the issues of today as detrimental to efforts to truly solve these problems, opponents find merits in such approach to technological improvement of our society as complements to existing activists and policy efforts. An example of the criticism is how policy makers may be tempted to think that installing smart energy monitors would help people conserve energy better, thus improving global warming, rather than focusing on the arduous process of passing laws to tax carbon, etc. Another example is the use of technological tools alone to solve complex sociopolitical crises such as pandemics, or the belief that such crises can be solved through the integration of technical fixes alone.[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.14361/dcs-2022-080104/html] ===Renewable energy=== ===Climate engineering=== ==Concerns== Michael and Joyce Huesemann caution against the hubris of large-scale technological fixes. In the book Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us Or the Environment, they show why the negative unintended consequences of science and technology are inherently unavoidable and unpredictable, why counter-technologies or technological fixes are not lasting solutions, and why modern technology in the current context promotes collapse instead of sustainability. Naomi Klein is a prominent opponent of the view that simply technological fixes will solve problems. She explained her concerns in her book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate and states that technical fixes for climate change, such as geoengineering, bring significant risks, as "we simply don't know enough about the Earth system to be able to re-engineer it safely". According to her, the proposed technique of, for instance, dimming the rays of the sun with sulphate-spraying helium balloons (in order to mimic the cooling effect on the atmosphere of large volcanic eruptions) is highly dangerous, and such schemes will surely be attempted if abrupt climate change gets seriously underway. Such concerns are explored in their complexity in Elizabeth Kolbert's Under a White Sky. Various experts and environmental groups have also come forward with their concerns over views and approaches that look for technological fixes as solutions, and warn that those would be "misguided, unjust, profoundly arrogant and endlessly dangerous" approaches as well as over the prospect of a technological 'fix' for global warming, however impractical, causing lessened political pressure for a real solution. ==References==

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