Human?

 

 Are they Human?

 Like the authors of the book, VIRTUALLY HUMAN, I missed out on the earlier computer age during my school education not even learning to type.

  However I am deeply impacted by the book named above.  I am deeply thankful to our son for building and purchasing parts for our first internet connection, a 56K modem, and other more powerful computers because we were playing catch-up with personal computing.  We entered the Information Age with the love and skillset of our son.

 But no matter how old we are… we are all deeply impacted by the Digital Revolution, for good and ill. Technology is no longer just a part of our lives…. but rather it shapes the context in which we all live. We can too easily be swept along by the pace of change and all that comes with it, without pausing to reflect on what is happening to us as a result and whether we should accept, approve or resist it.

 

 Now thanks to the talents and love of a son, we launched into cyberspace and now learn our way around the world of Google, Facebook and the newer world of the smartphone. But I recognise I need the map and compass to navigate well in the Digital Age.

 With the flourishing Digital Age, I believe, we are in a greater need of the relationship of God who entered “in the flesh,” as Jesus of Nazareth in this human world.

 

 Technology gives us greater access to knowledge of the whole world, which is a few clicks away.  Instead of asking our parents, teachers or others, we can just google it.  If knowledge is power, what kind of power is it?  Is Google a neutral tool?  Does an algorithm really decide neutrally, when its engineers and mathematicians ( all PhDs) are not trained in the why of the ‘Big Questions’ of the ‘ordinary people,’ working their coding and accessing the world’s knowledge base on the Internet?  Does Google bring up correct ‘answers’ to questions in a search box without fear of bias or prejudice written in the code?  

 

 Our world is awash with information, but wisdom is needed. Wisdom found in that ancient but timeless text, the Holy Bible.

 

 Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the flourishing technology that pervades our planet, nor am I suggesting that we should not be thankful for the tremendous tools we have developed by a few inventors and innovators whose vision has given us our current- operating- edge of our Western society.  After all, we are much better off in the current global technology regime.  Should we ’fall back’ to an earlier century of technology we are truly wise to say we cannot do without our computers and other computer-driven advancements.  Which clever app on our smartphone could we really do without? 

 

Our pocket computers are brilliant, but are they wise?

 

 Many voices of academics, visionaries, authors and teachers warn of a techno-utopia with some inner flaws: a dystopia. Do we ignore them just because they don’t agree with us? As suggested earlier, do we accept or disapprove, in part, the pace of change?  Should we just go along with whatever next technological system, tool or advancement is birthed? Neither against, nor fully for the technology we enjoy?  Of course, I love technology, but where is it really leading: - Bright Utopia or dark dystopia?

 

 Perhaps this will point the way a little.  My Wife, when she was a younger woman dreamt to be an archaeologist. Instead she became my beautiful, intelligent and loving Wife!  Almost all of the human cultures in history have yearned for, believed in God and in an afterlife!  These are powerful clues, not proofs.  Look at the scale of engineering and the scale of the after-life thought involved in the Pyramids.  These massive buildings certainly seized the minds of later human civilisations on earth.

 

 Also, think carefully and deeply about how utterly different human beings are from the animal kingdom.  Animals don’t make civilisations with sky-scrapers, multiple, on-line massive global games or tools that reach Mars or nuclear reactors.  Also consider what archaeologists have discovered dating back 10’s of 1000’s of years, almost every earlier human burial site have some rituals and imagery and tokens and tools with the dead for symbolic use, by them in the afterlife.  This long- held, deep human conviction about God is a powerful piece of evidence, perhaps the most powerful, for God

 

Thanks for reading these thoughts.

Care to comment? Your thoughts?

(This post is not intended as a book review.)