Is the Left Guilty of Techno-Pessimism?

I think so. So does Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), probably the leading think tank on technology policy. Atkinson has an appreciative reaction to my 5 Deadly Sins of the Left essay that appeared on American Compass.

"In his excellent American Compass essay “The Five Deadly Sins of the Left”, Ruy Teixeira calls out the left for what he terms their “technopessimism”. He writes: “the Left has become distinctly unenthusiastic about the potential of technology, tending to see it as a dark force to be contained rather than a force for good to be celebrated.” Not only is the left’s view misguided – technology remains the central driver of improvement in most Americans’ lives – but Teixeira writes that this attitude leaves “techno-optimism to the libertarian-minded denizens of Silicon Valley.”

He identifies two causes of this techno-pessimism. The first is growthphobia. This has become particularly pronounced as climate change has worsened and the discipline of “ecological economics” has gained adherents on the left. One of the leading thinkers in the field writes, “so what we need to do now is make the transition from the growth phase [of the economy] to the steady state.”

There are two problems with this rejection of growth. The first is that from an environmental perspective it’s mistaken. U.S. GDP could increase by a factor of 10 and the environmental impact could be massively less than today if America transitioned to clean energy and other environmentally protective technologies and practices.

The second is that “steady state economics” leaves Americans, including the 85 million American households who make less than $100,000 a year, high and dry; no more growth for them or their kids."

AMERICANCOMPASS.ORG

Can the Left Overcome its Technopessimism? - American Compass

In his excellent American Compass essay “The Five Deadly Sins of the Left”, Ruy Teixeira calls out the left for what he terms their “technopessimism”. He writes: “the Left has become distinctly unenthusiastic about the potential of technology, tending to see it as a dark force to be contai...