Techno-fix troubles

摘要

In his introduction to the 1995 edition of Engines of Culture (Transaction), social scientist Daniel Fox lamented the rise of "technocratic solutionism". Frustrated by the messiness of politics, intellectuals were retreating to a simplistic view of social progress, predicated on a belief that "problems have technical solutions even if they are the result of conflicts about ideas, values and interests". In technology's promise of the quick fix, disheartened thinkers found comfort. Some 20 years on, the appeal of solutionism is stronger than ever, thanks to rapid advances in the analytical and communicative powers of computers. The hopes of today's solutionists centre on the Internet. In its decentralized, 'peer-to-peer' architecture, they see a model for a more democratic polity. And in its bulging databases, they see a digital Rosetta Stone that, once decoded, will allow us to decipher the causes of social ills from obesity to government corruption. If we can just get the algorithms right, the thinking goes, we'll be able to solve our most intractable problems in an illuminating burst of statistical analysis.