Techno-optimism: near future or false promise? 

seminar from group Science, Reason and Faith.

Sara Lumbreras. Pamplona, 20 December 2016.

News

Sara Lumbreras holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and teaches at the ICAI School of Engineering and the ICADE School of Law and Economics at Comillas Pontifical University. She is a researcher at the high school of research Technology and part of the committee advisor of the Chair of Science, Technology and Religion at the same university. Her work focuses on the development and application of decision support models to complex problems, especially in the energy sector, where she has worked extensively on the design of electricity transmission networks. He is also particularly interested in reflecting on the social impact of technology. He has published more than fifteen scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and has also participated in more than a dozen projects with private companies and institutions. He has five years of experience in investment banking and is a Global Shaper for the World Economic Forum..

summary:

Technological utopia argues that, thanks to technology, humanity will eventually reach an ideal life in which the problems that limit it today will disappear. These ideal conditions include a state of abundance in which - according to these thinkers - social problems would also disappear. It would also be possible to design conscious machines and communicate efficiently with them. Moreover, life technologies could overcome disease and delay ageing: in its most extreme version, techno-optimism promises to overcome death itself. This discussion paper reviews the main promises of techno-optimism and their implications, pointing out the limitations of its assumptions and the need for reflection to guide and control future technological developments.