Technology won’t save us from ourselves

I’m a technology optimist. Truly. I believe innovation can change almost anything, when it’s used with intention. Unfortunately, people who don’t want to change themselves are more often the ones who call themselves technology optimists. We love the story that technology will save us. It’s elegant. Comforting. It lets us believe that progress will happen, without us having to change.

In tourism, that story sounds familiar. Cleaner fuels are coming. Smarter planes are coming. Someone, somewhere, is fixing it. We can keep flying, building, expanding, because the future will sort it out.

But what about the inconvenient truth? The technology we already have could cut emissions in half. We just don’t use it fast enough. The problem isn’t invention. It’s implementation.

Every promise of a “future solution” becomes an excuse not to act now. Every time we say “soon, it will be possible,” what we really mean is “not yet.” Hope is good. Technology is vital.

But neither should replace responsibility.