perfidy

I'm not so sure what to make of this. Science Fiction great Bruce Sterling has an article in the "Technology Review" titled "Ten Technologies That Deserve To Die."

His list, without his explanations:

• Nuclear Weapons
• Coal-Based Power
• The Internal Combustion Engine
• Incandescent Lightbulbs
• Land Mines
• Manned Space Flight
• Prisons
• Cosmetic Implants
• Lie Detectors
• DVDs 

Wha? 

The automobiles are scaring the horses! Where are my pants? Now, I'm with Brucie on removing land mines, lie detectors, and perhaps maybe newcular weapons from the minds and hands of man, but what the hell? If you read the list closely, Sterling isn't so much arguing that all these technologies are EVIL, per se, (though he certainly has a hate on for coal power and the light bulb), as arguing that they are deeply flawed temporary solutions to problems that will one day be solved through the power of... technology. No argument there, but the whole thing seems a little overheated, not to mention unexpectedly curmudgeonly, coming from someone who once fell in love with the revolutionary possibilities of the fax machine.

[update] Now, with working link!