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When Someone:

  • Strongly believes that technology can address (nearly) all issues facing humanity, possibly to the exclusion of other means.
  • Exclusively or predominately Favors/promotes technological solutions to problems the exclusion of other approaches.
  • Is generally accepting of broad claims suggesting that a new technology or product will quickly and permanently do away with complex social or economic issues, or who is prone to make such claims himself.
  • Tends to overlook or dismiss negative side-effects (cultural, economical, civic) of widely-disseminated new technology or is inclined to believe that these will fail to materialize despite reasonable indications to the contrary.
  • Disposed to embrace additional/newer/better technology as a means to address for previous failures or negative ramifications of technology.

In the past, I have used the word technocrat for this purpose, but the dictionary defines a technocrat as (I'm paraphrasing) "a proponent of meritocracy organised around technological knowledge".

Another alternative is technophile, but this only describes (literally) a lover of technology and does not connote idealogical or political emphasis placed on technology's role in human society.

An existing question, what word is the opposite of Luddite? (close), seemed promising, but actually asked for something quite different.

Update #1:

technocentric seems closest in meaning to what I sought, though its not in any dictionary I've looked at and despite the fact that the wikipedia page spins it as an idealogy that pertains predominantly to environmental issues. The wiktionary definition however, is spot on:

technocentrism (uncountable):

The ideology that advocates the using of technology to try to answer all questions.

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    I'd call this person a marketer's dream customer.
    – Hot Licks
    Jul 15, 2015 at 1:56
  • I'd actually say technocrat is appropriate here, with the possible exception of point 4. In that particular case, you might say that the person is blindly technocratic, or a technocratic fundamentalist because they've misinterpreted the core tenant as, "technology is always right" rather than "technology is the answer". Otherwise the meritocracy described has a value system founded on the data and proofs brought about by technology, which is exactly the value system of the person you're describing. Jul 15, 2015 at 2:49
  • An unwavering belief in the power of technology is not identical with the belief that power in society should derive from an individual's technical merit (vs. ethical/experiential merit, popular support, divine right of kings, etc'). Even a strong correlation between the two does not mean that the term for one denotes the other. Jul 15, 2015 at 21:42

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Wikipedia (and not apparently any dictionaries) suggests technocentrist.

technocentrism -

Technocentrics have absolute faith in technology and industry and firmly believe that humans have control over nature. Although technocentrics may accept that environmental problems exist, they do not see them as problems to be solved by a reduction in industry. Rather, environmental problems are seen as problems to be solved using science and technology.

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Cornucopian

A cornucopian is a futurist who believes that continued progress and provision of material items for mankind can be met by similarly continued advances in technology. The term comes from the cornucopia, the "horn of plenty" of Greek mythology, which magically supplied its owners with endless food and drink. The cornucopians are sometimes known as "boomsters", and their philosophic opponents—Malthus and his school—are called "doomsters" or "doomers."1

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  • This is useful, but refers to a specific brand of futurist which is too narrow a definition for what I had in mind. Jul 15, 2015 at 21:43

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