Technology is often couched in terms of solving problems such as curing disease, providing for reliable food production, or affording efficient means of transportation. Indeed, technology has proved powerfully effective for solving any number of problems, from the massive project of sending people into space to the minor chore of fastening pieces of paper together. But in a 1966 article, atomic physicist Alvin M. Weinberg raised the following question: Are there some types of problems that cannot—or should not—be fixed by technology? Weinberg coined the term technological fix to describe the use of technology to respond to certain types of human social problems that are more traditionally addressed via political, legal, organizational, or other social processes. Although Weinberg advocated the use of technological fixes in some cases, the term has come to be used frequently as a pejorative by people critical of certain uses of...