Technology and sustainability: An introduction

This chapter presents common ways to perceive technology and technological development in relation to sustainability. These are (1) technological optimism, (2) technological pessimism, (3) technological neutralism, and (4) technological holism. In addition, four contemporary fallacies surrounding technology are presented: (1) technological development reduces environmental impacts (the decoupling fallacy); (2) technological development benefits everyone (the equity fallacy); (3) technological development is outside human control (the autonomy fallacy); and (4) technological development can be rationalized entirely (the intellect fallacy). The chapter argues that technology is a historically and contextually diverse phenomenon-there certainly are technologies, which can serve sustainability, but to understand what these are and what their use entails, any one-dimensional and/or linear view has to be abandoned.