iDolatry
What does it mean that we live in a humanistic age of technology? Perhaps it’s a world where mechanical devices bow to our wishes; yielding productivity, usefulness and efficiency. At the consumer level, this is the definition of our age. These devices are complex machines with many components. They must first be formed from natural resources harvested by humankind. It’s in this stage of engineering where I believe we should be more concerned.
Photo & Design credit: Tim Andries & Mathew Braun
I’m about to present a very extreme anti-humanist, anti-technology view. Clearly, human-made tools are useful. It would be very difficult to argue the opposite. I can remember a time when cell phones weren’t prevalent. At the time, I wouldn’t have believed someone who suggested that I could call, send text messages, check email or look up research materials on a mobile phone. Yet, my iPhone allows me to do all of that. I can contact anyone I want in the world through the use of multiple information channels. I can no longer think of living without these technologies; this is an unprecedented technological innovation. It has caused an irreversible change to my life.
From the dawn of the humanist age we’ve been consumed with our own ingenuity and intellect, despite our obvious imperfections and human conditions. The endeavour of science has sought to discover the way this world works to a point where it can predict patterns in the world. With this predictive power, humanity has used physical, chemical, and biological laws to develop technology, allowing us to do things that weren’t originally possible. But we’re kidding ourselves if we truly believe that we can master all things by the works of mind and body.
Most of humanity’s engineering feats have been bred out of the necessity for survival against the harsh conditions that we live in. It’s obvious by the amount of media time environmental issues are given that humankind is winning this war. Through scientific enterprise and the mass marketing of technology, humanity now lives comfortably in spite of the curse placed upon us in Genesis. We’ve reached a point where one of our beloved icons of technology is the image of half eaten apple. This tree-born image, that may have once reminded some people of our fallen nature, has now become a popular icon for human supremacy and ingenuity. Shouldn’t this be a time of great rejoicing that humanity has finally overcome the curse by our own means?
The overwhelming answer to this predicament is that our goals are inherently flawed. The human heart is in a constant condition of yearning to become a god. Since the tower of Babel, and perhaps before it, humankind has wished to ascend into the heavens and achieve godhood. The current means of appeasing this impossible goal is by technology. If we can control our world and all that is within it, including our bodies and minds, then perhaps we can finally reach this new height.
Humankind relies upon its ingenuity to manipulate its environment for restoration and redemption. We’ve developed technology to be this means of manipulation. The problem is that humanity as a collective whole sows into technology the idolatry of self. The devices can become idols, but the deeper, more profound understanding of this idolatry is that it‘s focused on human greatness. How clever we are, to do such things as wipe out entire forests using a chemical known as Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. How ingenious we are, devising the means to repair a person’s body or heal it of disease? It seems as though it’s only a matter of time until we reach the state of god, since we already exert such control. Nevertheless, it’s an improper view to believe that by our own intelligence that we could accomplish such things.
To hold such a belief places too much value on the human person. We have depraved hearts and minds. Everything that comes from humanity is evil when its creation is for the glory of humanity. Yet humanity’s stuck in a cycle of self-glorification and narcissism. We’ve become caught up in wars of territory, blood and ideology and we’ve been scattered across the world. To buy into this humanist view, through our consumerism, is to place our hope in the false god of humanity. And it’s ultimately hopeless for any form redemption.
Addison Pasiuk
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