| If you follow the EU’s, say, transport policy, there is one term you will hear over and over again: Technology neutrality. Politicians, so the argument goes, should acknowledge their limited knowledge of the world by not picking what they believe are winning technologies, but instead leaving this to much smarter engineers, researchers, and consumers who know best what they want. There’s a slightly different German version of the term, “technology openness” (Technologieoffenheit), which points even more to staying open-minded to innovation that could solve some of our current problems sooner than we might expect. Both terms are particularly used on the right side of the political spectrum — including German liberals — and presented as an alternative to a “ban policy” (as the EPP calls it in their recent draft manifesto) that Greens and Socialists are suspected of wanting. “We need more enthusiasm for inventing than for bans,” FDP (Renew) chief Christian Lindner, the poster boy of Technologieoffenheit, said. Bavarian leader Markus Söder (CSU/EPP) tweeted “YES to the car – NO to bans,” calling for “innovation and technological openness”. Tragically, this has led to a counter-reaction on the left side of the political aisle, where everyone who calls for technological solutions to solve pressing issues such as climate change is eyed with scepticism and considered a potential denier — or at least delayer – of actual solutions. | 