Technology Worship benefits Mankind

My father, a moderately liberal evangelical, always said, “You worship what you spend the most time with.” Now, he would usually say this around the Christmas holidays to get out of decorating the house, but he did have a valid point. For whatever reason, humans have an “obsessive” or “addiction” gene that appears in almost everyone, but in vastly different ways. Some people become addicted to the vices of drugs, alcohol, sex, and/or gambling, but those of us who are “good” find our vices elsewhere. Some people find lovely little hobbies, others pour themselves into religion, philanthropy, or volunteerism, but a growing majority of us find our little saviours through technology. And, why not? We carry the power of all the world’s libraries in our pockets, something which was inconceivable even 15 years ago, to look at viral videos and Reddit memes, to watch Netflix, to prove little bits of trivia over glasses of beer. It is amazing.

The computer has changed our lives, our culture, and our minds. Our language is evolving to fit in internet slang, memes, and lol-speak. Wikipedia, once seen as an arguably mediocre reference source, is now used as a genuine source of knowledge (though, even in 2005 the highly regarded journal of Nature found that Wikipedia was as accurate as Brittanica). Many, however, believe that technology separates us from each other, that it takes over our lives, and “hinders social interaction” (Plowman & McPake, 2013). Weizenbaum (n.d.) even argues over the dangers of believing “that God is intelligence, not love” and, while I do agree that humans tend to obsess and often worship the computer, I believe most naysayers miss the bigger picture of what the computer does for the average person on a day-to-day basis.

In 1990, Steve Jobs stated, “What a computer is to me is it’s the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with, and it’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds” (Popava, 2011). The invention of the bicycle transformed human transportation, making it easier for both leisure and work. The invention of the computer transformed us similarly, but in much more dramatic ways. The computer has given us new ways of thinking, new ways of creating art and music, new ways of connecting with fellow humans, new ways of designing clothing. We are ultimately a better, more caring and loving race because we can now see a spectrum of beauty and humanity instead of our previous narrow viewpoints and we are only able to do this thanks to technological endeavours such as internet forums, Facetime, Skype, and online portals of knowledge such as the Human Right Campaign and the amazing ideas brought forth through Ted Talks.

Further, while technology has the ability to drive us apart, to make us hyper-critical of others, and to place intelligence at the mantelpiece of our shrines, it does the exact opposite. Technology allows us collaboration that we could never before dream of and, David Spinks (2012) notes, “. . . we collaborate to consume, we collaborate to entertain ourselves, we collaborate for experiences, for learning, for exercise, for causes, for experiments, for business… for living.” Contrary to popular believe, the Project for Public Spaces (2014) found “over the last 30 years Americans have become less socially isolated in public space, even with the greater use of technology. According to the study, people are actually more likely to spend time in groups, men and women are more likely to spend time together, and there has been a marked increase in the percentage of women in public space overall.”

Weisenbaum paints a very dismal view of computer worshippers. Certainly, people who place technology and intelligence over humanity and empathy cannot be condoned, but the vast majority of people see technology as something that can turn our self-centred approaches to life into a global community. As one who does view the computer as a sort of god, Weisenbaum failed to recognize is that computers broaden our capacity for beauty, for empathy, for communion, and for love.

References

Plowman, L., & McPake, J. (2013). Seven myths about young children and technology. Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://www.academia.edu/1899143/2013._Seven_myths_about_young_children_and_technology

Popava, M. (2011). Steve Jobs on Why Computers Are Like a Bicycle for the Mind (1990). Retrieved May 16, 2016, from https://www.brainpickings.org/2011/12/21/steve-jobs-bicycle-for-the-mind-1990/

Project for Public Spaces. (2014, July 17). Technology Brings People Together in Public Spaces After All - Project for Public Spaces. Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://www.pps.org/blog/technology-brings-people-together-in-public-spaces-after-all/

Spinks, D. (2012). Technology is Creating a World Without Strangers. Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/04/29/technology-is-creating-a-world-without-strangers/#gref

Weizenbaum, J. (n.d.). Computerized Gods And the Age of Information. Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://vedicsciences.net/articles/computerized-gods.html#Artificial-Intelligence