There's an ethical dimension to this discussion as well: we have a responsibility to address the problems that we see in the world; to wait for miracles is to avoid that responsibility.
May 26, 2022·edited May 26, 2022Liked by Étienne Fortier-Dubois
I feel the problem is which kind of innovation are we expecting there? I tend to agree with the idea that no technology could save us. Not that it's not possible to be saved by a technology, but because it would only postpone and probably deepen the problem.
The kind of innovation we need right now is a deep modification of the way we interact, both individually and collectively, with our environment.
There's a great french fantasy book titled "Winning the war", it's always struck me as our main problem : we've been winning the war for quite a long time now. And yet we still act as if we were under fire. But finding new weapon won't help.
This is a common perspective, and I used to have it, but over time I’ve grown really against such thinking. Innovation means solving problems. That always creates additional problems, but these can also be solved with more innovation. There’s no end state when the problems are all solved, unless we stop innovating and just accept to suffer from current problems. Otherwise we’ll be solving problems forever, and that’s good.
And yes solutions don’t necessarily have to be what we commonly call technology. They can be laws and better institutions and philosophical ideas and so on. But I wouldn’t call “innovation” something that amounts to accepting problems without attempting to solve them.
There's an ethical dimension to this discussion as well: we have a responsibility to address the problems that we see in the world; to wait for miracles is to avoid that responsibility.
I feel the problem is which kind of innovation are we expecting there? I tend to agree with the idea that no technology could save us. Not that it's not possible to be saved by a technology, but because it would only postpone and probably deepen the problem.
The kind of innovation we need right now is a deep modification of the way we interact, both individually and collectively, with our environment.
There's a great french fantasy book titled "Winning the war", it's always struck me as our main problem : we've been winning the war for quite a long time now. And yet we still act as if we were under fire. But finding new weapon won't help.
This is a common perspective, and I used to have it, but over time I’ve grown really against such thinking. Innovation means solving problems. That always creates additional problems, but these can also be solved with more innovation. There’s no end state when the problems are all solved, unless we stop innovating and just accept to suffer from current problems. Otherwise we’ll be solving problems forever, and that’s good.
And yes solutions don’t necessarily have to be what we commonly call technology. They can be laws and better institutions and philosophical ideas and so on. But I wouldn’t call “innovation” something that amounts to accepting problems without attempting to solve them.