Power and Progress

“Techno-optimism” has paid dividends but also exacted tolls.

Throughout history, technological progress and economic growth have been powered by a potent mix of ingredients. One driver is optimism about technology: the belief that human ingenuity can overcome natural hurdles to progress. Another is faith in markets: the idea that the private sector will find a way to fund and profit from innovation. And a third is a willful ignorance of the costs of progress, whether they exact a human toll – such as the thousands of people who died in a failed first attempt at building the Panama Canal – or an environmental cost, as in the climate change created by the widespread use of fossil fuels. 

French diplomat and entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps illustrated the extremes of this approach in the 19th century. He led the development of the Suez Canal, starting in 1861. De Lesseps commandeered an army of Egyptian workers who were all but slaves – they slept on the ground in the desert, and they were fed meager rations and paid subpar wages.After de Lesseps lost his access to cheap labor in 1863, his project seemed dead. But technology came to the rescue, in the...