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Dangers of the technical fix, techno-optimism, technological inevitability and the stories we tell
Fenner, Richard A.
Fenner, Richard A.
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EESD2025_#20_Fenner.pdf
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2025
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Abstract
The paper argues that a reductionist approach to engineering leads to a deterministic view of the future in which technology dominates and the technical fix to any problem can always be found. It queries how the limits of technology are framed and how this can be explored through engineering education, and poses a series of questions engineering students should be encouraged to ask when evaluating suitable courses of action. The dangers of seeking the narrow technical fix are identified, which can lead to complacency and justify business as usual through the promise of a technological solution (but always sometime in the future). A further series of questions are proposed which techno-optimists need to be able to answer to avoid placing blind faith in technology and repeating mistakes of the past. Technology is always intertwined with the narratives we tell about it, including at the starting point through engineering education. These narratives can frame technological development as a deterministic process to which we have no choice but to adapt (regardless of the impacts or unforeseen consequences). Three case studies are presented which explore how notions of technological inevitability can be abused to legitimise self-serving visions of the future, challenge the certainty of technical/economic logic and illustrate how technical capability alone can result in unnecessary or inappropriate solutions being implemented. The paper concludes that technology (including engineering solutions) must be seen not as inexorable or inescapable, but as part of a wider complex interaction with society, end users and the facilitating mechanisms by which it will or will not come into being. Students should be encouraged to envision the future, challenge inevitability and retain their ability to choose the paths to a better world their engineering skills can help create.
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Keywords (free text)
case-based learning, engineering education, engineering for sustainable development, education for sustainabilty, sustainability in engineering