ICT and Sustainability: Looking Beyond the Anthropocene

Abstract : This paper investigates the relation between information and communication technology and sustainability through two frameworks that promote sustainable development: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Doughnut Economics. The instrumentalist technology perspective underlying the SDGs, guiding the perceived universality of ICT, presents ICT as a neutral tool. Doughnut Economics enables a more integrative approach, making the unsustainability of ICT itself visible. What these frameworks have in common is that they are located in the discourse of the Anthropocene. Feminist perspectives on this epoch by Donna Haraway and Anna Tsing focus the attention on different figures, rhythms, and futures made invisible by the centrality of the human species in the debates on the future of our planet. The idea that humans-with-technology will get us out the predicament of the Anthropocene needs urgent refinement and critical investigation.