Douthwaite says that technological fixes, although they aren’t a perfect option, are a good enough option to “buy some time”. His opinion seems to be that society should slap a proverbial Band-Aid on their social problems and worry about the consequences later. The Huesemanns take a stance on the other extreme end of the spectrum. Their article implies that any scientific fix is not worth the impacts that it will have on the environment or society. Their article reads as though any technological fix is going to work at odds with the natural flow of evolution. The third article takes the most balanced view. They seem to be saying that although technological fixes can help in some ways, technology is not the only answer to problems.
Technological fixes often have negative repercussions because they are implemented without looking into the impacts they’re going to have. Usually technological advances come with a certain amount of excitement around them which causes them to be rushed ahead instead of thoroughly studied. Technology will always be the more exciting option, so the unintended consequences will just have to be dealt with as they are discovered. People are never going to want to give up on the idea of technology as the “quick fix”, which is obvious by the amount of diet products that are out on the market at any given time. The time-tested way of losing weight is to consume less calories than are expended, but the promise of a quick fix draws people in. The same is true for any problem that humans face, they are programed to look for the easy way out.
I would agree with what you had to say about Douthwaite’s “bandaid”. I thought the same thing when I was reading his article. He seems to think that technological fixes are worth the potential problems they might cause later, if they even temporarily fix a social problem. I think you’re right that the Huesemanns’ article being the middle ground between the other two articles. They’re saying that technology can solve some problems, but not all. The only thing that I didn’t necessarily agree with in your blog was that humans are always looking for the easy way out. I think that humans are inclined to look for easier ways to do things, but I also think that there is a portion of the population that doesn’t look for the quick fix. Some people do look to do things the traditional way, without new technological fixes. I enjoyed reading your article!