Like the technologically dominated future in the film The Matrix, the science and technology that humans rely on to solve environmental problems may not solve them, but rather create more problems. In particular, the film criticises technocratic solutions, noting that even green energy sources such as solar energy are not a perfect alternative.
In the film The Matrix, the reality is a future where machines dominate humans. The earth has been devastated by the battle between humans and machines, life is almost extinct, and the only things on earth are machines and the humans who are exploited as energy sources for the machines. The human body is trapped in an artificial matrix (womb) created by the machines, and the mind is controlled by a virtual reality programme called the Matrix. In this situation, a group of humans break out of the matrix on their own and begin to fight back against the machines. They find a hacker named ‘Neo’ who has the ability to disrupt the matrix, and prepare to free the humans. This plot line is probably familiar to many from the success of the film, but what struck me while re-watching the film was not the domination of humans by man-made artificial intelligence, but the environmental issues underlying the film.
Environmental pollution and resource depletion, which has accelerated since industrialisation, is now one of the biggest threats to humanity’s survival, and many people are worried about it and are trying to do something about it. However, different people approach environmental issues in very different ways. Two of the main perspectives are technocratic environmentalism and ecological environmentalism, as categorised by environmental writer O’Riordan.
Technocratic environmentalism argues that science and technology itself is not directly responsible for environmental degradation. Even if technological development has caused environmental problems, the view is that we should use science and technology to solve them rather than limit or abandon them. Ecological environmentalism, on the other hand, argues that when humans forget their place as part of nature and try to become the rulers of nature, the wounds inflicted on nature in the process hurt humans as well.
Before environmental concerns came into focus, people were fascinated by the incredible efficiency offered by machines and were indifferent to the soot they emitted. Even after environmental concerns came to the fore, economic development was the main concern of people, and humanity remained technocratic. The power of capital generated by machines has again developed machines and increased their number, but the sharp blade of environmental destruction, which was hidden in the process, now threatens humanity. So, can environmental problems caused by science and technology be solved by more advanced technology, as technocratic environmentalism claims?
Currently, there is a lot of research going on around the world in environmental technologies, with green energy technologies being a prime example. Green energy technology refers to energy technologies that do not cause air pollution or global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions. Given the impact that increasingly depleting fossil fuels have had on human civilisation, the development of green energy technologies is of great importance. Currently, solar energy and nuclear energy are two of the most popular green energy sources. However, the dangers of nuclear energy are well known, and technologies that harness solar energy still pose environmental threats.
Solar energy is the fundamental source of energy for all life and ecosystems on Earth. The movement of the atmosphere and ocean currents is also driven by convection caused by solar radiation, so in a broad sense, wind and tidal energy can also be considered a form of solar energy. Fossil fuels are also the result of photosynthetic plants synthesising organic matter using solar energy in the past. So, if we had the sun at our disposal, would this solve both our energy and environmental problems? Not really.
It is said that enough sunlight to generate enough electricity for the world’s population is only available near the equator, which means that transmission lines between continents and oceans are needed to deliver energy to places like northern Europe and eastern Asia, which is hardly eco-friendly. Also, even if we were to harness 100% of the sun’s energy at the surface, solar cells would need to cover an area about the size of Africa to power the world’s 7 billion people. If solar power plants were built over such a large area, the creatures living there would lose their sun, which is hardly eco-friendly.
This kind of technocratic environmentalism not only fails to solve the environmental problems we face, it can actually create new ones, putting humanity at risk. The following film scene illustrates this concern.
‘It is certain that mankind has burned the sky. The machines of the time relied on solar energy and believed that without the sun, their source of energy, they would perish.’
(The Matrix, 1999)
In the distant future, humanity has created machines with artificial intelligence that mimic their ‘minds,’ and their hubris is at an all-time high. But when they are attacked by their own machines, they decide to destroy the sun, the source of their energy, oblivious to the fact that the sun is also the source of their life. This scene from the film The Matrix may be a foreshadowing of the dire future we face if we continue to follow our technocratic ways to the end.
