Technology and Politics
Jun. 26th, 2021 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unspeakablehorrorToo many times I see people propose technological solutions to what are political problems. The problem isn't that we need to develop this or that technology to fix the problem, the problem is that we need to solve structural problems in our society. We need to change our relationships with other people.
Like recycling, for example. People are always latching onto the latest technology for this, some new plastic that's been invented or whatever, without taking a look at what the actual problems in our current recycling system are. Recycling isn't a type of object, it's a process, and by focusing on only the item that process works upon, people lose sight of what the real pressing problems are in the first place. The pollution and environmental degradation caused by the process itself, why imperialist and colonialist countries don't have remotely adequate facilities to recycle their own waste, and who is most impacted (and how) by pollution caused by recycling.
Like recycling, for example. People are always latching onto the latest technology for this, some new plastic that's been invented or whatever, without taking a look at what the actual problems in our current recycling system are. Recycling isn't a type of object, it's a process, and by focusing on only the item that process works upon, people lose sight of what the real pressing problems are in the first place. The pollution and environmental degradation caused by the process itself, why imperialist and colonialist countries don't have remotely adequate facilities to recycle their own waste, and who is most impacted (and how) by pollution caused by recycling.