In Douthwaite’s reading, the idea of a technological fix is presented as a necessary evil, that while there are negative repercussions to these fixes, and that they don’t solve every issue, they are crucial for human growth. Johnston presents technological fixes as a “cure-all” as the title of his article implies. He briefly touches on the fact that these fixes can cause new problems down the road but elects to ignore the bad and mainly focuses on the benefits. He would most likely argue with Douthwaite on how unimportant the negative side effects would be, but not much else. The Huesemann’s article is mainly focused on the negative impacts of technological fixes, using words such as “irreversible” and “unavoidable” to describe the side effects of these fixes. They would most likely argue against the fixes and toss aside Douthwaite’s article all together.
These technological fixes have negative repercussions because a lot of the time the fix is for something we may not fully understand yet. This allows for problems to arise from unforeseeable reactions and changes caused by the fix. These problems shouldn’t deter us from solving our problems with advances in technologies. We’ve come so far as a species by using our knowledge to overcome challenges, we can’t stop now when things become tough. That being said, we should proceed with some hesitation. Using what we know and taking all the necessary precautions we can still make leaps and bounds in our modern world while also keeping new problems and backfire to a minimum.