Technology and Sustainable Development: The Promise and Pitfalls of Techno-Solutionism Henrik Skaug Sætra (ed.) (2023) 286pp., £43 paperback, Routledge, Milton Park UK, ISBN 9781032350561

How a problem is framed determines the tools and mentality of a solution. If one has a hammer, then all problems are to be nails. In society, we have adopted a propensity to reach for technology to solve our problems, even if it is to our detriment. There is a framing of techno-optimism, that there should be an openness to accept technology to better the world (Danaher, 2022). The source of this optimism is easy to understand in the light of the rise of progress narratives (Rotman, 2021). This faith in technology encourages the adoption of a techno-solutionist paradigm: as Sætra puts it, that we ‘can and should use technology to solve the challenges we happen to face’ (p.2). The appeal of this is that it leans on our own sense of agency to solve our own problems. This sense of empowerment may be hollow as efforts may lack coordination or may be undermined by institutional forces.