Date of Award
5-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design
Committee Chair/Advisor
Dr. David Blakesley
Committee Member
Dr. Ufuk Ersoy
Committee Member
Dr. Jordan Frith
Committee Member
Dr. Gabriel Hankins
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the ideological, rhetorical, and performative dimensions of techno-optimism among a highly influential class of techno-elite “shapers,” and examines how their discourse and sociotechnical imaginaries drive action and material change within the accelerating technological development and diffusion that characterizes 21st-century modernity.
This work finds that these techno-optimistic shapers frame the future as both desirable progress and an inevitable path, narrowing the range of outcomes that can be publicly debated or critiqued. While it focuses primarily on deliberative rhetorical methods and their consequences, I also draw on scholarly work from the fields of Science and Technology Studies, philosophy, critical and social theory, human ecology, and economics in order to illuminate the broad range of possible postures toward the impact of technology, and how techno-optimistic discourse shapes sociotechnical trajectories and public reasoning.
The work includes a study of speeches, writings, and interviews of 26 techno-elites, and highlights the central role of ethos and a variety of rhetorical practices including kairos, enthymemes of progress and inevitability, asymmetrical platform power, deterministic posturing, moral distancing, risk attenuation, selective evidentiary framing, and regulatory doubletalk.
These techniques collectively elevate persuasion over dissuasio: they normalize acceleration as progress, present optimistic futures as mandatory rather than optional, and render cautionary or critical voices as irrational, regressive, or out of bounds. The study argues that this discourse contributes to an imbalance between technological capacity and social governance, in which a small class of shapers can both celebrate technological acceleration and remain relatively insulated from accountability for its downsides.
Recommended Citation
Rochlin, David, "Techno-Optimistic Rhetoric and Deliberative Futures: Shaping Definitions of Progress" (2026). All Dissertations. 4201.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/4201
Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0001-8956-1837
Included in
Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Public Affairs Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Science and Technology Policy Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons