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This is Andreessen trolling to get traffic on their new publication website... Obviously technology is not saving the world. Sure we made a vaccine for a diseas

by d--b 5y ago

This is Andreessen trolling to get traffic on their new publication website... Obviously technology is not saving the world. Sure we made a vaccine for a disease that was bad. But technology is mostly responsible for propagating it in the first place. And climate change, you know. EDIT: also on HN front page, fully autonomous killer drones are being mass-produced.

xwowsersx 5y ago
hmm, I'm not sure I agree with all points made in this post, but surely two things can be true at once? In other words, yes technology introduces problems (possibly the pandemic, as you stated), but might it not also provide the remedy?
- osekkat 5y ago
  >> yes technology introduces problems (possibly the pandemic, as you stated), but might it not also provide the remedy? Sure, but even with the "remedy" we still had 600k deaths in the US and 3.8M globally. Not to mention the other problems caused by technology that are don't have a remedy yet, aka Climate crisis. I do agree with the comment above that we can't technology our way out of the climate crisis.
- sbarre 5y ago
  If you want to get super pedantic about it.. "Technology" doesn't do anything. Humans do stuff, using technology. Some of it good, some of it is bad. So it's really up to us, humans, to save the world. Or destroy it.
  - xwowsersx 5y ago
    I don't want to get super pedantic about it.
    - sbarre 5y ago
      You might be in the wrong place then. ;-)
megabless123 5y ago
Exactly, humanity will not be able to "technology" itself out of the climate crisis. There's no better carbon removal technology than our most efficient trees.
- cma 5y ago
  Even were that true we'd be better off with fusion-powered stacked greenhouses of them.
- CityOfThrowaway 5y ago
  This statement denies reason. There are plenty of ways in which we can technology our way out, even if we accept your premises (which, to be clear, I don’t but I’m willing to play ball). Indeed, our only option – save for some type of genocidal movement – is to technology ourselves out of the climate crisis. 1. Engineer trees that store more carbon in denser and long lasting root systems 2. Create drone systems to plant and maintain tons more trees 3. Improve energy capture technology to reduce our net new greenhouse gases 4. Create more efficient motors for the same reason as above 5. Create new recycling technologies so we can reuse more of the stuff we already have without mining more 6. Speaking of raw material acquisition, we can mine asteroids instead of our own planet 7. Transition more activities online to reduce the need for physical travel for more things 8. Hell, move more business to the internet to reduce the environmental footprint of office space Literally this list can go on and on. Technology is the only thing that fundamentally improves the trajectory of human society.
  - swader999 5y ago
    It would be very simple, fast, effective and not costly to use airliners with sulfur added to their fuel to increase earth's albedo. Problem solved. Of course we don't want to do this but it is an option.
- scatters 5y ago
  Trees use the C3 pathway. There are much faster-growing plant species (for example bamboo, switchgrass) that could be incorporated into a BECCS process.
factsaresacred 5y ago
A technology creates externalities. Another technology neutralizes those externalities. Given that we're unlikely (or unwilling) to put technological genies back in the bottle, what else can we hope for?
- mdorazio 5y ago
  More responsible development & deployment of technology to avoid externalities in the first place?
throwkeep 5y ago
Jon Stewart just made that point yesterday too: “I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science,” Stewart said. “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.” (1) I disagree with regard to climate change though because that externality has so far been a net positive for humanity and we can solve the downside. Yes, technology enabled us to dig up and burn buried carbon at scale sufficient to alter the climate, but that's what lifted billions out of poverty and eliminated starvation in much of the world. We'll solve the negative externality with renewable energy, clean nuclear energy, carbon capture, improved manufacturing efficiency and materials, etc. 1) https://news.yahoo.com/jon-stewart-endorses-lab-leak-130516274.html https://news.yahoo.com/jon-stewart-endorses-lab-leak-1305162...
- kordlessagain 5y ago
  Easing starvation enabled more people to have offspring and that fact likely cause a swing in population which increased demand and use of fossil fuels. The possible outcomes of a a runaway population living on a planet with a runaway climate are likely harder to predict than a simpler and smaller system. I certainly do hope we can solve our problems with technology, but it will take concerted effort and unified attention to do so.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  > which was more than likely caused by science This is absolutely not true. There's zero evidence of a lab leak.

by d--b 5y ago

xwowsersx 5y ago

hmm, I'm not sure I agree with all points made in this post, but surely two things can be true at once? In other words, yes technology introduces problems (possibly the pandemic, as you stated), but might it not also provide the remedy?

osekkat 5y ago
>> yes technology introduces problems (possibly the pandemic, as you stated), but might it not also provide the remedy? Sure, but even with the "remedy" we still had 600k deaths in the US and 3.8M globally. Not to mention the other problems caused by technology that are don't have a remedy yet, aka Climate crisis. I do agree with the comment above that we can't technology our way out of the climate crisis.
sbarre 5y ago
If you want to get super pedantic about it.. "Technology" doesn't do anything. Humans do stuff, using technology. Some of it good, some of it is bad. So it's really up to us, humans, to save the world. Or destroy it.
- xwowsersx 5y ago
  I don't want to get super pedantic about it.
  - sbarre 5y ago
    You might be in the wrong place then. ;-)

megabless123 5y ago

Exactly, humanity will not be able to "technology" itself out of the climate crisis. There's no better carbon removal technology than our most efficient trees.

cma 5y ago
Even were that true we'd be better off with fusion-powered stacked greenhouses of them.
CityOfThrowaway 5y ago
This statement denies reason. There are plenty of ways in which we can technology our way out, even if we accept your premises (which, to be clear, I don’t but I’m willing to play ball). Indeed, our only option – save for some type of genocidal movement – is to technology ourselves out of the climate crisis. 1. Engineer trees that store more carbon in denser and long lasting root systems 2. Create drone systems to plant and maintain tons more trees 3. Improve energy capture technology to reduce our net new greenhouse gases 4. Create more efficient motors for the same reason as above 5. Create new recycling technologies so we can reuse more of the stuff we already have without mining more 6. Speaking of raw material acquisition, we can mine asteroids instead of our own planet 7. Transition more activities online to reduce the need for physical travel for more things 8. Hell, move more business to the internet to reduce the environmental footprint of office space Literally this list can go on and on. Technology is the only thing that fundamentally improves the trajectory of human society.
- swader999 5y ago
  It would be very simple, fast, effective and not costly to use airliners with sulfur added to their fuel to increase earth's albedo. Problem solved. Of course we don't want to do this but it is an option.
scatters 5y ago
Trees use the C3 pathway. There are much faster-growing plant species (for example bamboo, switchgrass) that could be incorporated into a BECCS process.

factsaresacred 5y ago

A technology creates externalities. Another technology neutralizes those externalities. Given that we're unlikely (or unwilling) to put technological genies back in the bottle, what else can we hope for?

mdorazio 5y ago
More responsible development & deployment of technology to avoid externalities in the first place?

throwkeep 5y ago

Jon Stewart just made that point yesterday too: “I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science,” Stewart said. “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.” (1) I disagree with regard to climate change though because that externality has so far been a net positive for humanity and we can solve the downside. Yes, technology enabled us to dig up and burn buried carbon at scale sufficient to alter the climate, but that's what lifted billions out of poverty and eliminated starvation in much of the world. We'll solve the negative externality with renewable energy, clean nuclear energy, carbon capture, improved manufacturing efficiency and materials, etc. 1) https://news.yahoo.com/jon-stewart-endorses-lab-leak-130516274.html https://news.yahoo.com/jon-stewart-endorses-lab-leak-1305162...

kordlessagain 5y ago
Easing starvation enabled more people to have offspring and that fact likely cause a swing in population which increased demand and use of fossil fuels. The possible outcomes of a a runaway population living on a planet with a runaway climate are likely harder to predict than a simpler and smaller system. I certainly do hope we can solve our problems with technology, but it will take concerted effort and unified attention to do so.
jonny_eh 5y ago
> which was more than likely caused by science This is absolutely not true. There's zero evidence of a lab leak.