What is techno-optimism

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TL;DR

Hot take

In the context of climate change: this is the over-confidence that new technology just over the horizon will fix all our woes.

Explanation

The world is run by tech bros who think more tech is always the answer. We’re in a time-limited crisis that requires urgent action, but techno optimists think there are new solutions on the horizon that will soon be available that will make it all go away.

Nuclear fusion. Small modular nuclear reactors. Hydrogen cars. Carbon capture and storage. Direct Air Capture to suck all the carbon out of the air. Synthetic fuels. Sustainable aviation fuel. Quantum computing.

This blind optimism lulls people into a false sense of comfort - that there is a fix coming soon. That we can continue to use fossil fuels and some tech will come and fix it.

We don’t need new technologies, we need to very rapidly apply the ones we have today. New technologies might come along in that timeframe and make it easier, but there’s absolutely no guarantee that they will. If they don’t - then what?

Also - there’s plenty of non-technology things we could be doing, like buying less stuff or changing how our economies work.

Any new technology that comes along will also need to be deployed at global scale on a timeframe of 10 or so years. Technology takes years of development to get right, to set up all the manufacturing and distribution and installation.

Solar panels are flying out of factories and onto rooftops near you every day but this took decades before it reached that velocity. In mid 2024 it’s too late to pin our hopes on any new technology - stop wasting your time or being distracted by it and focus on what we can do right now.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of great opportunity for new tech to transform how we do things today, but that has to be an upside and not a floor we rely on to keep us safe from Climate Tipping points.

What is techno-optimism

TL;DR

Explanation

Further reading