Can Technology Save the World? | January-February 2014

From the discovery of how to make fire through advances in agriculture, industry and leisure, technology has mostly served us well. So in an age when politics seems too exhausted to find solutions to the wicked problems we face, it’s natural that many of us turn to technology – or the technology we believe to be just over the horizon – in the search for answers to our needs. Will our beloved smartphones just amuse us ever more effectively? Or do they hold the digital seeds that can save the world? The January-February issue of Policy Options asks a collection of writers to consider this important question.