View source for Techno-progressivism

{{Short description|Stance of active support for the convergence of technological and social change}}
{{Progressivism|ideas}}
{{Transhumanism}}
{{distinguish|Technological utopianism|Techno-populism}}
{{unreliable sources|date=January 2016}}
'''Techno-progressivism''' or '''tech-progressivism'''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leijten |first1=Jos |title=Science, technology and innovation diplomacy: a way forward for Europe. Institute for European Studies Policy Brief Issue 2019/15 |website=www.ies.be |date=January 2019 |url=http://aei.pitt.edu/97388/ |access-date=26 February 2021}}</ref> is a stance of active support for the [[wikt:convergence|convergence]] of [[technological change]] and [[social change]]. Techno-progressives argue that technological developments can be profoundly [[empowerment|empowering]] and [[freedom (political)|emancipatory]] when they are regulated by legitimate [[democracy|democratic]] and [[accountable]] authorities to ensure that their [[social cost|cost]]s, [[risk]]s and [[cost-benefit analysis|benefits]] are all fairly shared by the actual [[stakeholder (corporate)|stakeholders]] to those developments.<ref name="Carrico 2004">{{cite web |first=Dale |last=Carrico |title=The Trouble with "Transhumanism": Part Two |date=2004 |url=http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/carrico20041222/ |access-date=2007-01-28 |authorlink=Dale Carrico |journal= |archive-date=2016-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908070459/http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/carrico20041222 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Carrico 2005">{{cite web |first=Dale |last=Carrico |authorlink=Dale Carrico |title=Technoprogressivism Beyond Technophilia and Technophobia |date=2005 |url=http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/carrico20060812/ |access-date=2007-01-28 |journal= |archive-date=2016-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908070510/http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/carrico20060812 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{SPS|date=September 2022}} One of the first mentions of techno-progressivism appeared within [[extropian]] jargon in 1999 as the removal of "all political, cultural, biological, and psychological limits to self-actualization and self-realization".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sikora |first1=Tomasz |title=The Cultural Dimension of Waste: a Critique of the Ethos of Technology. Economic and Environmental Studies |date=2003 |page=103-112 |url=https://czasopisma.uni.opole.pl/index.php/ees/article/download/2816/2272}}</ref>

==Stance==
Techno-progressivism maintains that accounts of [[Progress (history)|progress]] should focus on [[Scientific consensus|scientific]] and [[Technological change|technical]] dimensions, as well as [[ethics of technology|ethical]] and [[technology and society|social]] ones.  For most techno-progressive perspectives, then, the growth of scientific knowledge or the accumulation of technological powers will not represent the achievement of proper progress unless and until it is accompanied by a [[distributive justice|just distribution]] of the [[externality|costs, risks, and benefits]] of these new knowledges and capacities.  At the same time, for most techno-progressive [[social criticism|critic]]s and [[advocacy|advocates]], the achievement of [[participatory democracy|better democracy]], greater [[social justice|fairness]], less violence, and a wider [[civil libertarianism|rights culture]] are all desirable, but inadequate in themselves to confront the quandaries of contemporary technological societies unless and until they are accompanied by [[scientific progress|progress in science]] and technology to support and implement these values.<ref name="Carrico 2005"/>{{SPS|date=September 2022}}

Strong techno-progressive positions include support for the [[civil right]] of a [[person]] to either maintain or [[body modification|modify]] his or her own [[cognitive liberty|mind]] and [[morphological freedom|body]], on his or her own terms, through [[informed consent|informed, consensual]] recourse to, or refusal of, available therapeutic or enabling [[biomedical technology]].<ref name="Carrico 2006">{{cite web |last=Carrico |first=Dale |authorlink=Dale Carrico |title=The Politics of Morphological Freedom |date=2006 |url=http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2006/08/politics-of-morphological-freedom.html |access-date=2007-01-28}}</ref>{{better source|date=February 2016}}

During the November 2014 [[Humanity+|Transvision Conference]], many of the leading [[transhumanist]] organizations signed the Technoprogressive Declaration. The Declaration stated the values of technoprogressivism.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/tpdec2014 |title=Technoprogressive Declaration - Transvision 2014, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies |access-date=2014-12-19 |archive-date=2017-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203004407/http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/tpdec2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Contrasting stance==
{{Cleanup|reason=This section should move to [[Transhumanist politics]]|date=February 2018}}
{{Main article|Bioconservatism}}
[[Bioconservatism]] (a [[portmanteau]] word combining "[[biology]]" and "[[conservatism]]") is a stance of hesitancy about technological development especially if it is perceived to threaten a given [[social order]]. Strong bioconservative positions include opposition to [[Genetic engineering|genetic modification]] of [[transgenic plants|food crops]], the [[cloning]] and genetic engineering of [[livestock]] and [[pets]], and, most prominently, rejection of the genetic, prosthetic, and cognitive modification of human beings to overcome what are broadly perceived as current human biological and cultural limitations.<ref name="Carrico 2004"/><ref name="Carrico 2005"/>{{SPS|date=September 2022}}

Bioconservatives range in political perspective from [[right-wing politics|right-leaning]] religious and cultural [[conservatism|conservatives]] to [[left-wing politics|left-leaning]] [[environmentalism|environmentalists]] and [[appropriate technology|technology critics]]. What unifies bioconservatives is skepticism about [[medical]] and other [[biotechnology|biotechnological]] transformations of the [[biosphere|living world]].<ref>Huesemann, Michael H., and Joyce A. Huesemann (2011). [http://www.newtechnologyandsociety.org ''Technofix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment''], New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, {{ISBN|0865717044}}, 464 pp.</ref><ref>Mander, Jerry (1991). ''In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations'', Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, California.</ref><ref>[[Jeremy Rifkin|Rifkin, Jeremy]] (1998). ''The Biotech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the World'', Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York, New York.</ref><ref>Shiva, Vandana (2000). ''Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply'', South End Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.</ref> Typically less sweeping as a critique of technological society than [[Neo-Luddism|bioluddism]], the bioconservative perspective is characterized by its defense of the [[natural]], deployed as a [[moral]] category.<ref name="Carrico 2004"/><ref name="Carrico 2005"/>

Although techno-progressivism is the stance which contrasts with bioconservatism in the [[biopolitical]] spectrum, both techno-progressivism and bioconservatism, in their more moderate expressions, share an opposition to unsafe, unfair, undemocratic forms of technological development, and both recognize that such developmental modes can facilitate unacceptable [[recklessness (law)|recklessness]] and [[Exploitation of natural resources|exploitation]], exacerbate injustice and incubate dangerous social discontent.<ref name="Carrico 2004"/><ref name="Carrico 2005"/>{{SPS|date=September 2022}}

==List of notable techno-progressive social critics==
{{primary|section|date=September 2022}}
*[[Technocritic]] [[Dale Carrico]] with his accounts of techno-progressivism<ref name="Carrico 2005"/>
*Philosopher [[Donna Haraway]] with her accounts of [[cyborg theory]].<ref name="Haraway 1991">{{cite journal|    author = Haraway, Donna|    title = A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century|    date = 1991|    url = http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html|    access-date = 2007-01-28|    authorlink = Donna Haraway|    url-status = dead|    archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120214194015/http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html|    archive-date = 2012-02-14}}</ref>
*Media theorist [[Douglas Rushkoff]] with his accounts of [[Open-source model|open source]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.educause.edu/blog/agould/OpenSourceRealityDouglasRushko/167730 |title="Open Source Reality": Douglas Rushkoff Examines the Effects of Open Source &#124; EDUCAUSE |publisher=Educause.edu |date=2008-07-01 |access-date=2009-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516055344/http://www.educause.edu/blog/agould/OpenSourceRealityDouglasRushko/167730 |archive-date=2016-05-16 }}</ref>
*Cultural critic [[Mark Dery]] and his accounts of [[cyberculture]].<ref name="Dery 1994">{{cite book|    author = Dery, Mark|    title = Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture|    url = https://archive.org/details/flamewarsdiscour00dery|    url-access = registration|    year = 1994 |   publisher = Duke University Press| isbn = 0-8223-1540-8|    authorlink = Mark Dery}}</ref>
*Science journalist [[Chris Mooney (journalist)|Chris Mooney]] with his account of the [[The Republican War on Science|U.S. Republican Party's "war on science"]].<ref name="Mooney 2005">{{cite book| author = Mooney, Chris| title = [[The Republican War on Science]]| publisher = Basic Books| year = 2005| isbn = 0-465-04676-2| authorlink = Chris Mooney (journalist)}}</ref>
*Futurist [[Bruce Sterling]] with his [[Viridian design movement]].<ref name="Sterling 2000">{{cite journal|    author = Sterling, Bruce|    title = Viridian: The Manifesto of January 3, 2000|    date = 2001 |   url = http://www.viridiandesign.org/manifesto.html| access-date=2007-01-28|    authorlink = Bruce Sterling}}</ref>
*Futurist [[Alex Steffen]] and his accounts of [[bright green environmentalism]] through the [[Worldchanging]] blog.<ref name="Steffen 2006">{{cite book| author = Steffen, Alex| title = Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century| publisher = Harry N. Abrams, Inc.| year = 2006| isbn = 0-8109-3095-1| authorlink = Alex Steffen| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/worldchanginguse00stef}}</ref>
*Science journalist [[Annalee Newitz]] with her accounts of the [[Biopunk|Bio]][[Do-it-yourself biology#Biopunk art|punk]].<ref name="Newitz 2001">{{cite journal|    author = Newitz, Annalee|    title = Biopunk|    date = 2001 |   url = http://www.sfbg.com/SFLife/tech/71.html|   archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20021220190353/http://www.sfbg.com/SFLife/tech/71.html|   archive-date = 2002-12-20| access-date=2007-01-26|    authorlink = Annalee Newitz}}</ref><ref name="Newitz 2002">{{cite journal|    author = Newitz, Annalee|    title = Genome Liberation|    date = 2002|    url = http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/02/26/biopunk/print.html|    access-date = 2007-01-26|    url-status = dead|    archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060706193552/http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/02/26/biopunk/print.html|    archive-date = 2006-07-06}}</ref>
*Bioethicist [[James Hughes (sociologist)|James Hughes]] of the [[Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies]] with his accounts of [[democratic transhumanism]].<ref name="Hughes 2004">{{cite book| author = Hughes, James| title = Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future| publisher = Westview Press| year = 2004| isbn = 0-8133-4198-1| authorlink = James Hughes (sociologist)}}</ref>

==Controversy==
[[Technocritic]] Dale Carrico, who has used "techno-progressive" as a shorthand to describe [[progressivism|progressive politics]] that emphasize [[technoscientific]] issues,<ref name="Meme Therapy 2006">{{cite web | author = Jose | title = Dale Carrico on Technoprogressive Politics | date = 2006 | url = http://memetherapy.net/03/dale-carrico-on-technoprogressive-politics/ | access-date = 2008-04-19 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071225214908/http://memetherapy.net/03/dale-carrico-on-technoprogressive-politics/ | archive-date = 2007-12-25 }}</ref> has expressed concern that some "[[transhumanist]]s" are using the term to describe themselves, with the consequence of possibly misleading the public regarding their actual cultural, social and political views, which may or may not be compatible with [[critical theory|critical]] techno-progressivism.<ref name="Carrico 2008">{{cite web |last=Carrico |first=Dale |authorlink=Dale Carrico |title="Technoprogressive": What's In A Name? |date=2008 |url=http://amormundi.blogspot.com/2008/01/technoprogressive-whats-in-name.html |access-date=2008-04-16}}</ref>{{SPS|date=September 2022}}

==See also==
{{div col}}
*[[Algocracy]]
*[[Body modification]]
*[[Bioethics]]
*[[Biopolitics]]
*[[Digital freedom]]
*[[Free software movement]]
* [[Frontierism]]
* [[Fordism]]
* [[High modernism]]
* [[Manifest Destiny]]
* [[New Frontier]]
* [[Post-scarcity economy]]
* [[Scientism]]
* [[Technocentrism]]
* [[Technological progress]]
*[[Techno-utopianism]]
*[[Transhumanist politics]]
*[[Progress]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://ieet.org Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies]
*[http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/biopolitics Overview of Biopolitics]

[[Category:Ideologies]]
[[Category:Technology in society]]
[[Category:Political ideologies]]
[[Category:Progressivism]]
[[Category:Humanism]]
[[Category:Science and technology studies]]
[[Category:Transhumanism]]
[[Category:Ethics of science and technology]]
[[Category:Transhumanist politics]]