#techno-solutionism

[hypatiareads]

“Precision” warfare does not exist

"Israel has long branded itself as a purveyor of the latest and greatest in homeland security. Military spokespeople have held up the blockaded Gaza Strip as proof that innovations in surveilling, shooting, and killing from a distance can make warfare more precise. However, just as the billions of dollars sunk into cutting-edge security solutions did not prevent the ruthless massacre of Israeli civilians, these technologies are not preventing but inflicting wholesale destruction across Gaza. The brute bloodshed has exploded one of militarism’s popular mythologies: technological innovation will deliver more humane warfare. 

Another word for this mythology is techno-solutionism, a worldview that took Israel’s military and political elite by storm at the turn of the twenty-first century, when “technology rather than occupation” became official IDF policy. Amid the bloodshed of the Second Intifada and the disintegration of the Oslo Accords’ always tenuous promises of peace, military leadership purported that aerial warfare coupled with monitoring telecommunications, internet activity, and 24/7 drone reconnaissance would make Israeli military rule easier to sustain in the long-run—while limiting bloodshed. Military innovations promised to replace combat soldiers and institute surgical precision in combat operations. This unwavering faith in the potential of new technologies drew on a global zeitgeist of the 1990s and early 2000s. It was a time when venture capital-oriented technology sectors closely tied to the military and political establishment happily proffered technological solutions to the world’s innumerable ills."

Blunt Force by Sophia Goodfriend

[kenyatta]

Tech seems to be the dominant force in our economy, politics, and culture, not to mention a daily obsession that can increasingly look like an addiction from which some might plausibly seek the help of a higher power to recover. Tech culture has long been known for its prophets (Jobs, Gates, Musk, et al.), and tech as a whole is even increasingly oriented around moral and ethical messages, such as Google’s infamous “Don’t be evil.”  The tech-as-religion comparison I’ve found myself drawing is often unflattering to tech leaders and institutions. Techno-solutionism and related ideas can function as a kind of theology, justifying harm in the here and now with the promise of a sweet technological hereafter; powerful CEOs and investors can form the center of a kind of priestly hierarchy, if not an outright caste system; high-tech weapons and surveillance systems seem to threaten an apocalypse of biblical proportions. 

- MIT Tech Review: The rise of the tech ethics congregation

[azspot]

Bills like KOSA don’t just presume that tech caused the problems youth are facing; they presume that if tech companies were just forced to design better, they could fix the problems. María Angel pegged it right: this is techno-legal-solutionism. And it’s a fatally flawed approach to addressing systemic issues. Even if we did believe that tech causes bullying, the idea that they could design to stop it is delusional. Schools have every incentive in the world to prevent bullying; have they figured it out? And then there’s the insane idea that tech could be designed to not cause emotional duress. Sociality can cause emotional duress. The news causes emotional duress. Is the message here to go live in a bubble?

KOSA isn’t designed to help kids.

[feministdragon]

"

“Only connect.” This sums up the political perspective of ecofeminism, as Ariel Salleh writes in the foreword of the book Ecofeminism, by Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva. The article below pays tribute to the memory of Maria Mies, who passed away on May 16th, and who for so many years has been an inspiration as an intellectual and militant for so many of us, grassroots feminists waging ecological struggles.

Maria Mies was a German sociologist who greatly contributed to feminism, especially ecofeminism, with her formulations about development, the dynamics of accumulation, globalization, and ecological crisis. She especially looked into the patriarchal and colonial oppression of women from the global South, and she was an important interlocutor with thinkers including Vandana Shiva and Silvia Federici. Salleh argues that “ecological feminists are both street-fighters and philosophers.” Mies was one of them, as many of us are.

Only connect. No other political perspective—liberalism, socialism, feminism, environmentalism—can integrate what ecofeminism does: why the Roma people are still treated like animals; why women do 65 per cent of the world’s work for 10 per cent of its wages; why internet images of sexually abused children generate millions of dollars; why chickens are bred only for livers and wings; or why the Earth itself is manipulated as a weapon of war. Species loss is endemic; peak water is on the way; soils are losing organic integrity; the atmosphere is riven by angry storms. Ariel Salleh

“Only connect” is a political perspective that Maria Mies adopted to the nth degree. By doing so, she revealed to us the profound connections between patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism, building a radical theory for the liberation of women and the peoples.

In line with other ecological feminists, she reminds us in her book Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale—recently translated into Portuguese by the Sycorax collective and published by Ema Livros—that the paradigm of never-ending growth and progress is a patriarchal myth. It is a paradigm that cannot become true, both because we live in a materially finite world and because the condition for the progress of certain societies, under capitalism, is the exploitation of others.

In this sense, Mies also challenges what we would now call “techno-solutionism,” challenging the idea that, under a socialist society, technological development would ensure the expansion of workers’ free time. Her key argument is the fact that the development of technology has historically relied on the exploitation of the territories and the peoples of the global South, through mega power and mining projects, for example.

In her perspective, expanding women’s free time is an important topic that has to be considered in tandem with the transformation of the sexual division of labor. She argues that these two transformations could not be ensured by technology, but rather by establishing a political stance of appreciating the labor that reproduces life and challenges the division between leisure and socially necessary labor. This is especially important for freeing women’s time and labor, because most labor carried out by women is not alienated labor: they produce life and use value, including care and agriculture for own consumption. So the issue is not about reducing as much as possible the existence of this labor by replacing it with technology, but rather appreciating it, placing it at the center of the economy, and building work relationships that are interwoven with rest and pleasure.

Maria Mies has also opened the way with her formulations about the division between productive and reproductive labor. She rejected the way this division is usually understood, in which the labor that generates surplus value—and often the exploitation of nature with the exploitation of labor—is rendered productive, while the labor that generate the reproduction of life is deemed “reproductive.” She daringly suggests that productive labor is labor that generates life and use value, important for most people, including education, care, and food—while labor that only generates surplus value and destruction, like the death industries (weapons, agrochemicals, relentless mining exploitation) is “destructive” labor and should cease to exist.

To make this happen, Maria Mies reminds us that the countries in the global South must necessarily build their sovereignty with more self-sufficient economies. By challenging the international division of labor, she proposed a more decentralized production and consumption model, which would reduce the alienation of labor and lead to a positive ecological impact.

By providing harsh, well-formulated criticism and designing propositions for a horizon of emancipation, Maria Mies fed our feminist imagination. This imagination is ever more necessary so that we do not adopt a cynical, defeated stance in face of the sheer amount of connected crises we are facing. “Only connect” is an imperative to find ways to destroy the systems of domination—all at once."

[blackcoffeestudies]

“It is by now common sense that technical education gives rise to techno-solutionism—that a curriculum expounding the primacy of code and symbolic manipulations begets graduates who proceed to tackle every social problem with software and algorithms. While true, this misses the mark about what the engineering academy fundamentally teaches. The students and instructor in the ethics course were discussing a matter of politics and policy as if it were a technical problem. The issue, then, lay in their conception of the entire exercise: they reflexively committed to saving an unworkable representative democracy, and consigned themselves to inventing a clever mechanism to encourage desirable election outcomes. Techno-solutionism is the very soul of the neoliberal policy designer, fetishistically dedicated to the craft of incentive alignment and (when necessary) benevolent regulation. Such a standpoint is the effective outcome of the contemporary computational culture and its formulation as curriculum.”

[tsmom1219]

Role of ICT Innovation in Perpetuating the Myth of Techno-Solutionism

Mitra, Srinjoy et al. “Role of ICT Innovation in Perpetuating the Myth of Techno-Solutionism.” ArXiv abs/2309.12355 (2023): n. pag. Abstract: Innovation in Information and Communication Technology has become one of the key economic drivers of our technology dependent world. In popular notion, the tech industry or how ICT is often known has become synonymous to all technologies that drive…

[soisialta]

Busting Myths and Advocating for Assistive Technology from akwyz on Vimeo.

You'll be fascinated by our guest, Katherine Perry, the CEO of BATA UK, as she sheds light on the critical role of Assistive Technology (AT) in international development and health fields. We tackle misconceptions that AT is a 'scam' and delve into how we can better advocate for AT as a community. Throughout our enlightening discussion, we also grapple with the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Bata and its response to recent policy changes.

This episode is a powerful exploration of the need to include people with lived experiences in the dialogue surrounding assistive technology. Together with Katherine, we confront the difficulties of gathering the right information about AT and the challenges that arise in reaching out to communities outside our own. Hear firsthand experiences, insights from experts in the field, and understand the importance of providing tangible solutions to the issues at hand.

Finally, we turn our lens to the media's portrayal of assistive technology and the dangers of promoting a one-size-fits-all narrative. Katherine helps us understand the critical importance of recognizing the lived experiences of people with intellectual disabilities. We probe into the potential of techno-solutionism and the importance of ensuring that solutions are accessible for those who need them. Join us for this stimulating conversation as we investigate the challenges and stigmas associated with AT and the responsibility employers have in supporting people with disabilities.

[digitalcraftblogmax]

Concept and Research Question thus far !

Concept Thus Far: Intertwining of nature/technology, an interactive self reflection via interactive mapping on said screens : (raspberry pi multi video channel loop, led 64x64 sensor mapping) Amongst an uncanny fusion of the natural and scientific world, speculating a futuristic landscape. Where technology and the natural world are correspondent to one and another in an integral part of life ! dismantling then re-conceiving customary ways of seeing. In order to flip reality upside down and inside out ! portraying an interwoven synthesis of nature and technology. Where we as the audience become input to the installation itself.

Research Question(s):

Researching the correspondence between technology and the natural world questioning the what and why, when it comes to the ubiquity of technology and speculatively how technology can overtake nature!

What are customary ways of seeing ?

How can sensors manipulate the space and environment beyond our point of recognition or understanding ?

What bias; are inbedded into sensors whether intended or not, and why ?

How does techno-solutionism relate to sensor technology?

how does this relate to fluxus?

What are the implications of sensor technology good and bad? Why is this ?

What makes the natural and scientific world so different?

What other than an interactive self reflection could be played as footage and why ? what relevance does it have or what am I trying to say with such footage?

[oumaimas]

Today, only about 10 percent of arguments from conservative think tanks in North America challenge the scientific consensus around global warming or question models and data. (For the record, 99.9 percent of scientists agree that human activity is heating up the planet.) Instead, the most common arguments are that scientists and climate advocates simply can’t be trusted, and that proposed solutions won’t work.

[transhumanitynet]

Francesca Ferrando on Philosophical Posthumanism (267)

Though admittedly posthumanist, Francesca Ferrando‘s Philosophical Posthumanism is the best book on transhumanism that I have read so far. I believe that it is a must-read for transhumanists and non-transhumanists alike. In fact, one can argue that Ferrando’s book ranks right up there with the very best not only on the transhuman, but also on the human and the posthuman. The reason for that is simple: Philosophical Posthumanism cracks open, deconstructs, and demystifies all the major historical -isms. Furthermore, it not only lays bare words such as technology but also shows us how all the puzzle pieces fit together in the historical, ideological, theological, philosophical, etymological, scientific and decidedly political realms, like nothing else that I have read before. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Ferrando and invest the time and the effort to read her book.

During this 2-hour interview with Francesca Ferrando, we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: why I believe Philosophical Posthumanism is a must-read; why the etymological and other roots of a movement matter; child sociology and social mythology; our shared love for Ancient Greek mythology; the definitions of humanism, transhumanism, and posthumanism; why post-modernism is like the Quantum Mechanics of the humanities; the false distinction between human and transhuman; why the Hedonistic Imperative is merely a new version of the White Man’s Burden; theism and techno-solutionism; Martin Heidegger and the definition, poiesis and ontological power of technology.

As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation, or become a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/singularityfm

Francesca Ferrando on Philosophical Posthumanism (267) was originally published on transhumanity.net

[anarkittyy]

“Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2008, there is a heightened sense of urgency in Western-centric scholarly and public media debates to make visible and intervene in the harmful consequences of the tech industry’s naïve techno-utopianism and techno-solutionism. The promise of technologies to solve complex societal, economic, and political “problems” has long masked the proliferation of exploitation and inequality behind a rhetoric of “do good,” progress, individual empowerment, and democratization.

Important as this rising awareness of labor exploitation is, it retains a troubling and all-too-simplistic binary view. It often goes as follows (framed in a somewhat caricatured way): “all of us” are “free laborers” in our day-to-day use of social media platforms – Facebook is the ultimate “social factory”;[2] “platform capitalism” feeds off the making of intimate and personal connection; “some of us” are Uber drivers, who labor in a highly fragmented work arrangement aimed at preventing unionization and solidarity among workers; “others” might have it even worse, coerced to work in the physically strenuous and harmful conditions of Amazon warehouses or the flexibilized services of postal delivery.

But all of this labor exploitation in the “gig economy” depends on another form of exploitation, one often rendered as somehow “deeper” down, closer to the raw material or to the machine.

Cheap labor is a precondition of the gig economy, which is why we identify these workers as part of the undergig. Undergig workers perform the often invisible labor needed to create the conditions of digital life for everyone else. Electronics production extracts value from depleted zones and from factory workers, and it produces toxicity. The undergig also often overlaps with the “global south” category yet also exceeds such categorization.

The undergig is under-protected and underpaid. Its haunting invisibility is a necessary precondition for the fantasy of a smooth-functioning and fully automated digital world to come.”

Precarity Lab. “Technoprecarious.” 17

[jkottke]

The Drone Chronicles 2001-2016

Quite an intriguing pair of books by graphic designer Rob van Leijsen have recently come out, documenting the evolution of drones, the changes in the technologies used, and changes in usage and spread.

The set is made up of a catalogue, documenting fifteen years of drones. "The models appearing in chronological order with a small photo and a list of data: their release date, price, speed, flight time, dimension, function(s), colours available, weight, etc."

As you turn the pages, you see how the different uses of the technology evolve along parallel tracks: the commercial, the consumer and the military; the deadly, the useful and the purely entertaining.

The second is a journal, with a chronological selection of the most utterly striking stories involving drones and published during the same period.

By juxtaposing informative, technological and cultural stories, the Journal paints an ever changing portrait of a society trying to get to grips with drones. From the very mundane (spraying pesticides over crops or delivering parcels) to the techno-solutionism, the humanitarian and the artistic.

The books close in 2016, which lines up relatively well with the end of the major hype around drones.

[architectnews]

Bjarke Ingels' Masterplanet vision for Earth is "a continuation of the colonialist project" says Liam Young

Developing a masterplan for the planet could entrench existing inequalities and make climate change worse, according to the architect behind the new Planet City movie.

Architect Liam Young described the Masterplanet project by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) as "a continuation of the colonialist project that has already masterplanned the planet in its own image".

Instead, Young has presented an alternative vision of a future planet Earth in Planet City, a short animated movie depicting a dense metropolis for 10 billion people that would free up the rest of the planet for rewilding and the return of ancestral lands.

"It is just worth calling out the differences between these types of works," Young told Dezeen.

"The imposition of singular visions by starchitects just repeats so many of the mistakes that have got us into this situation in the first place."

Top and above: Planet City is a concept for a city for 10 billion people

Both Young and BIG, which is led by architect Bjarke Ingels, propose conceptual solutions for a world with 10 billion people, which is Earth's projected population in 2050.

Young's Planet City proposes a self-sufficient, multicultural city occupying just 0.02 per cent of the planet's surface.

Contrasting visions for a world with 10 billion people

By contrast, BIG's Masterplanet concept involves scaling up existing infrastructure to cover the entire planet, including creating a single global power grid and an international network of recycling plants.

"The typical techno solutionism that Bjarke Ingel's project is an example of is indicative of the general response of the design community to issues such as the pandemic or climate change," said Young.

"Such proposals are a continuation of the colonialist project that has already masterplanned the planet in its own image, he added. "Plans of this scale have historically perpetuated forms of exclusion and reinforced existing systems of power.

"Most of these projects rarely engage with these root causes of climate change and in fact enable them."

Bjarke Ingel's Masterplanet is another vision for Earth

The debate comes as architects and designers turn their attention to designing holistic solutions to global problems such as climate change, pollution and environmental degradation.

In an interview with Dezeen last year, Winy Maas of MVRDV called on architects to design new planets to help understand how to solve problems on Earth.

"It would be wonderful to design more planets and to compare them because there are different dreams," said the Dutch architect.

"It would be very useful in that way to fantasise on that because it would mirror what we should do now."

Architects turning attention to holistic global solutions

Maas added that the planet needed to be managed in the same way that landscapes are managed in countries like the Netherlands, with areas set aside for nature, farming and power generation as well as for human habitation.

"We will be with 11 billion people soon," Maas said. "We have to manage that growth. Some of us will go to the tundras in order to survive."

"We have to deal with that and with the new densities that [will] occur and also to keep enough emptiness for oxygen and water management."

Maas suggested turning cities like Hong Kong into havens for nature

Speaking at a Dezeen talk in 2018, designer Jalila Essaïdi called on designers to propose audacious solutions to global problems.

"I would say yes please, more science fiction," said Essaïdi. "Let's keep dreaming big and doing the impossible."

Essaïdi praised Elon Musk's plan to build colonies on Mars as an example of the big-scale thinking that is required on Earth.

"At first you have to think about the rockets to Mars before you can apply them here," she said. "It's a dream, an escape, but maybe you find aspects you can use here [on Earth]."

Planet City "implausibly extreme"

However, Young said that simply scaling up existing solutions is no longer appropriate for the global problems the world faces.

"What we actually need is an entirely different way of organizing change," he said. "Climate change is a political and ideological problem, not one that can be solved with Bjarke's new global power grid."

"Projects need to engage with the necessary cultural and ideological changes that are needed to support the implementation of these technologies," he added.

"Utopias of the imagination, projected into reality or these speculative fictions that masquerade as real solutions, without this complex engagement with their embedded politics are deeply problematic."

Liam Young

While admitting that his Planet City vision is "implausibly extreme", Young said that his short movie was intended as a provocation to trigger discussion about the failure of existing systems.

"Planet City is a fiction shaped like a city," he said. "It doesn't pretend to be an executable proposal, it is a provocation that engages and celebrates the value of fiction as a product in and of itself."

The Planet City concept is based on a consensus between human cultures, rather than a top-down masterplan.

"Set against the consistent failure of nation-states to act in any meaningful way against climate change, Planet City imagines emerges from a global citizen consensus, a voluntary and multi-generational retreat from the sprawling cities we all inhabit," Young explained.

Planet City is an alternative to "a singular design vision"

While Planet City is a fictional construct, Young said it presented an alternative to "a singular design vision or a central governing body enforcing a decree."

"Instead, network-enabled movements like the global climate strike and climate march, some of the largest gatherings of humans in history, act as a template for the early rumblings and first mobilisations of Planet City," he said.

"It is about allowing space for multiple voices not the PR informed manoeuvres of a singular star architect whose very value is tied up in the systems that have created much of the problems in the first place."

The post Bjarke Ingels' Masterplanet vision for Earth is "a continuation of the colonialist project" says Liam Young appeared first on Dezeen.

[coolmarriagerecords]

1. “It’s an awkward phenomenon that now pervades a growing cross-section of industries, a type of techno-solutionism that’s unbearable because it insistently capitalizes on quick fixes for problems that didn’t exist to begin with.”

2. “And what will become of music criticism in a world without records? Will publications review discovery feeds and write profiles of playlists? What good will criticism be when all of music has coalesced into algorithmically preordained Muzak?” 

>>> “Quick fixes for problems that didn’t exist to begin with” = the digital world in a nutshell. Some food for thought here.