> It's a law of nature that problems are always conserved.
I'd agree that some social issues cannot be solved by technology, but many have been.
E.g., without looking at the information age: in London before the Clean Air Act thousands people literally died of the smog, but the CAA was made possible only by increased availability of electricity and gas heating.
Your example is one where political and technical changes together helped solve a problem. You're literally citing a law as an example of a 'social issue solved by technology'.
My point is that replacing a complex technical system with a different technical system only reshuffles the set of problems that will need solving. The social and political problems that made the web what it is today won't disappear due to a redesign.
He is actually saying that the law could only change due to technological advance. That law (if memory serves) banned burning coal, which was how people heated their homes. There had to be something that could heat their homes instead of coal, before they could be compelled to use it.
I'd agree that some social issues cannot be solved by technology, but many have been.
E.g., without looking at the information age: in London before the Clean Air Act thousands people literally died of the smog, but the CAA was made possible only by increased availability of electricity and gas heating.