Technological "Fixes"

As we proceed into the future and encounter new problems, we resort to finding new technological fixes to resolve these problems. Power shortage? Erect a power plant. A pest infestation? Create an insecticide. Traffic jams? Widen roads. Enemy seeking underground refuge? Design a bunker blaster. City susceptible to flooding? Construct a higher dike. Insufficient oil? Drill another well.

We place a lot of faith in technology. Probably too much. We don't seem to realize that, for every fix, numerous downsides are often created, downsides that, in turn, will require further fixing. Things rarely are as simple as they appear. We therefore need to carefully assess the problems we encounter, give considerable thought to proposed solutions, think through what might be unexpected downsides of the proposed fixes, and be wary of any fixes that appear too obvious.

Consider the problem of inadequate food production to meet the world's nutritional needs in light of expanding populations. While land is available, rainfall is often inadequate to grow food on a reliable basis. Irrigation is then promoted as a technological fix, one that is typically seen as bestowing only clear-cut advantages upon the beneficiaries.

But, as with medical remedies advertised in magazines and on TV for this or that ailment, each description of a technological fix or cure—irrigation, in this case—should be followed by a description of the risks and adverse reactions associated with its use. The figure below illustrates some of the risks associated with irrigation, here considered a solution to low agricultural productivity.

But adverse impacts are not limited to those shown in the illustration. Another adverse impact, that arising from the gradual depletion of aquifers, is that they are beginning to destroy the livelihoods of farmers that development programs had been hoping to assist in the first place! This is described in the accompanying newspaper article.

A more insidious impact associated with irrigation is alluded to in the illustration. Initially, promoting increased irrigation leads to increased agricultural production. But this increased production veils major threats to mankind—unbridled population growth and the increased burden this places on the environment. Rather than solving the thorny issues associated with population growth without delay while they may still be manageable, increasing agricultural production merely temporarily reduces the urgency to do so.

But as demand for water continues to expand and aquifers face depletion, agricultural productivity gains will eventually reverse and re-emerge as a critical issue affecting societal well-being and stability. Over the long run, irrigation will have done little to continue feeding the world's population. It may actually have exacerbated the situation because, in the intervening years, not only will water resources have been exhausted and the land possibly been degraded, but the population will have been given the chance to mushroom yet further. This new reality will make the original goal—the production of sufficient food for the world's people—even more difficult to achieve. Our supposedly benign intervention in the beginning will, in the end, result in an unexpected tragedy.

As an ever-increasing number of problems facing us demand solutions, we must continually be wary of, and query, technological fixes proffered to us, even by the "experts", especially if they seem too good to be true . . . because they often are. If our intent is to make genuine contributions to society, then we must go beyond the rhetoric and endeavor to do our best in ensuring that interventions we are promoting are not temporary "fixes" that prove counterproductive over the long term.

In the case above, the only fix that would address, on a sustainable basis, insufficient agricultural production would seem to be a proactive intervention toward reducing both the population growth of the planet and the excessive consumption of that wealthier segment of the population that has access to more than adequate food. Anything else is just biding a little time before society collapses.