TECHNOLOGY SCALES UP
One of the defining characteristics of technology is that it reduces scales, everything gets smaller. We see that in mobility, distances are becoming less significant. We see that in agriculture, a single instance of a crop can be grown on less land. We see it also in society, people need less and less room to live. A different perspective is that our technology gets bigger and bigger…
The reason for this might be found in one of McLuhan’s laws, paraphrased it says that a technologies biggest danger is itself (internet’s danger is internet itself.) The consequence is that we are building bigger and bigger technologies to either contain or clean up the mess of previous technologies. And now we are seeing this with technological landscape of energy.
EXPLOITATION VS. DOMESTICATION
Technology is part of what it is to be human, but so is control. We want to control, to be able to predict if we are still alive tomorrow. If there is a danger we will try to get rid of that danger. A manifestation of this is domestication. And, as Jared Diamond explains, responsible domestication is a sustainable alternative to exploitation.
The CCS controversy shows exactly that. We are exploiting the world on an unimaginable scale. We are seeing the consequences, although we have no clue what to do about. But we realize we have to stop with some of the consequences of current technologies. So we filter our output to ‘give it back’ to the earth. But this is only the beginning. Because if we finally change from exploitation to domestication (of the earth) we will try to close the loop. We will try to cooperate with the earth to reintroduce and process our waste.
THE NEXT PARADIGM?
You can argue we are doing exactly but I like to contest that vehemently. If we were doing that Greenpeace and the Coal industry would be friends and chasing the same goal. Instead we are either continuing exploiting and covering up the negative effects. Or we are replacing (to be) depleted sources of energy for renewable ones so we are (politically) less dependant on others. In biology we would be called a parasite, where we should be part of a commensal symbiotic relationship. It is time to domesticate the earth!
