But many of us would at least agree that technical solutions tend to introduce new problems. Pessimistic determinism is often little short of a fatalism which tells us that there is no escape. And it is commonly associated with a general anti-modernism. But faith in the past involves romanticization no less than faith in the future. Romancing the future or the past involves denying present realities.
Literary sources can be useful in charting recurrent patterns in hopes and fears about technology .