Pro-innovation bias

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Pro-innovation bias is the belief that new ideas or technologies should be adopted everywhere, without changing them or considering their downsides. Advocates may be so biased in favor of an innovation that they ignore its limits and keep promoting it. An example from the 1950s is nuclear optimism: many people believed all power would be nuclear, replacing coal and oil, and that nuclear tech would bring many benefits—from preserving food with irradiation to new medical uses. Many imagined an age of peace and plenty, with atomic energy desalinating water, irrigating deserts, and even powering space travel. In 1986, Roger Smith of General Motors predicted a paperless society by the turn of the century. Similar sweeping predictions were common in the late 20th century.