When we think about technology it is usually as a promise. New advances in medicine, say, that will cure a killer disease. New breakthroughs in engineering that might make planes lighter, faster and more economical. New developments in computing that will let us roll up electronic newspapers or ‘think’ an email. Some may protest that they don’t want the benefits of these new technologies or deny that they represent any kind of progress. Most, however, would concede that these are good things even if they are not things they want.

But what about technology that promises what we want but threatens other things we want as well? The controversial technique of fracking has created an energy glut in America that has destroyed the market in renewable energy, which was such an important part of the vision for a sustainable economy. But cheap energy is at least good for economic growth and for household bills. What about GM crops? They hold out the promise of an end to starvation and of prosperity for poor farmers; but they also threaten what has been called ‘seed slavery’ and unquantifiable harms to natural ecosystems. Even the internet is a double-edged sword. Some see the rise of online purchasing where everything is just a click away as driving levels of consumerism and debt that we simply cannot pay back. But others argue the internet has enabled collaboration between small-scale producers and even individuals (crowd sourcing) that allows them to compete with massive corporations.

How then can we evaluate situations where technology and sustainability seem at odds? One difficult case is the promise of geo-engineering to combat climate change. Is it a ‘get-out-of-jail-free-card’ or might seeding the clouds make things even worse? Even if we were sure technology could fix the problem with no unintended consequences, should we fix it? After all, what would we want technology to do for us next? If we could replace all the people working in offices with robots, does that mean we should? Is there a danger that we are allowing technology to take us where we don’t want to go? Do we need to think more carefully about how we introduce and use technology and maybe set appropriate limits? Can technology and sustainability live happily ever after?