A Skeptic's Guide to Technology Agar, Nicholas. creator author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut Whatley, Stuart. author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut Weijers, Dan. author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut SpringerLink (Online service) text sz 2024 1st ed. 2024. monographic eng

electronic

electronic resource

access XII, 135 p. 4 illus., 3 illus. in color. online resource. How to Think about Progress is an interdisciplinary work exploring whether optimistic claims about technology’s potential stand up to humanity’s most difficult challenges. Will technology solve the problems of climate change, pandemics, cancer, loneliness, unhappiness, and even death? The authors show that techno-hype is all too often accepted because of the horizon bias, i.e. the modern propensity to believe that any problem that can be solved with technology will be solved in the very near future. The authors situate their analysis in a broad context, drawing on history, literature, and popular culture to emphasize their case against techno-hype. They also draw on a wide range of research, including that of biologists, philosophers of science and of language, psychologists, theorists of technological change, specialists on digital technologies, historians of ideas, and economists. As a corrective to much mainstream “futurism,” the book offers principles for seeing through much of the techno-hype that circulates online and in best-selling books. The authors share insights (without the jargon) from a variety of academic disciplines, making this book an engaging read for all audiences. Readers will find a balanced framework for thinking and writing about technological progress in the face of truly vexing challenges like cancer, climate change, and colonizing mars. Preface -- Introduction -- The Rise of the Futurists -- The Horizon Bias -- The End of Disease -- Onward, to Mars -- But, What about Exponential Progress -- The Hand-off -- Waiting for the Techno Rapture. by Nicholas Agar, Stuart Whatley, Dan Weijers. Technology Philosophy Technology Sociological aspects Technological innovations Philosophy of Technology Science, Technology and Society Innovation and Technology Management T14 9783031689383 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68938-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68938-3 240927 20251030113108.0 978-3-031-68938-3