Technology becomes less exploitive over time
John Danaher, 2022 - School of Law, NUI Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland “Techno-optimism: an Analysis, an Evaluation and a Modest Defence” Philosophy & Technology, Volume 35, article number 54, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-022-00550-2 //DH
This version of the unsustainability critique is challenged by some techno-optimists. For instance, Ramez Naam (2013) and Andrew McAfee (2019) (among many others, see Keary, 2016 for additional examples), have argued that technology is becoming less exploitative over time. Increased efficiencies in energy production and product manufacturing mean that fewer resources need to be used to produce the same output. McAfee refers to this as the ‘dematerialization’ phenomenon; it can also be called the ‘decoupling’ phenomenon (growth is being decoupled from exploitation). A simple illustration of this is the amount of aluminium used in food and drink cans. Quoting work by Vaclav Smil, McAfee (2019, 101) points out that the first aluminium drinks cans (produced in the 1950s) weighed 85 g. By the year 2011, they weighed 12.75 g. This massive reduction was made possible by computer-aided design processes that enabled thinner cans with the same structural integrity. This is an example of a trend that is repeated across industries. This trend gives us some reason for optimism when it comes to the role of technology in maintaining (and possibly increasing) the preponderance of the good over the bad.