There is an undercurrent in contemporary culture that plots nature in opposition to technology. According to this view, nature is pure, morally superior and in any way preferable, while technology is dirty, poluted, morally suspect and something to be approached only with apprehension. This is worrying and in effect a false dichotomy that may not be helpful if we want to solve the problems of our contemporary world.
We see it in popular culture. One recent example is the Avatar franchise (itself a tour de force in the use of advanced technology). Here the natives of a far flung planet, the Na’vi, are a natural, morally superior and in every way clean and wholesome native people connected to the planet, their ancestors and all manner of goodness. Plotted against this are humans who literally cannot exist there without their technology, engaged in extractive and cruel practices towards the planet and its inhabitants. Even the human cities look more like technological fictions based on a mix between the art of H.R. Geiger, the Matrix and oil refineries, than any real human city. Even touching technology is taboo for the Na’vi in their battle against the extractive and cruel technologically minded humans.
This is exactly the same thinking that drove Ted Kaszinsky, also known as the UNA bomber. In his manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, the opening lines clearly states the reasoning:
“The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of those of us who live in “advanced” countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued development of technology will worsen the situation”
The problem with this position is that it is a slippery slope; first of all the separation between technology and nature is not a real one, and secondly what is harmful technology and what is not appears arbitrary.
To the first point, it has been clear to biologists for decades that technology is a natural part of the natural world. Richard Dawkins talked about the concept of the extended phenotype, which he introduced in his 1982 book of the same name, which departs from traditional biology in seeing a gene’s effect not stopping at the skin of an organism, Dawkins argued that a gene’s influence can extend far into the environment through other means, such as technology. For example, spiders use webs to catch insects, and beavers build dams, both of which are examples of technology being used by nature. Technology is thus not somlething separate to our nature, but a natural part of the extended phenotype of an organism. There is no principled reason that any human technology should be any different.
As to the last point; Kaszinsky happily used technology to write his thesis, mail it and get it published. He used technology to create the bombs he sent to innocent people to kill them. He lived in a house not under the open sky etc. In Avatar, the Na’vi happily use bows and arrows to kill others. That is technology too. There is an unspoken assumption that there is a dividing line between good and bad technology here. For the Na’vi the defining line thus seems to be that it is made of steel, for Kaszinsky it is that it has been invented in the industrial revolution or later. But such distinctions are arbitrary.
Animals use technology and technology is therefore entirely natural. It is therefore a false dichotomy to pitch technology against nature. Technology is the cornerstone of our modern world which is superior on all important parameters to anything we can find in the historical record. That doesn’t mean anything goes. Technology has to be managed according to the goals we have rather than as an object of suspicion. It is a natural part of our lives and we can harness the power of technology for good, as the natural world has for millions of years. So, let’s stop looking at technology as the problem but rather as a part of the solution.
Photo by Tell Death I’m Busy on Unsplash
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