Technology vs. Humanity

Family policy matters in engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina family policy Council hi this is John Ralston, presidency, family, and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that you will feel better equipped to be a voice of persuasion, family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our house to family policy matters. Tracy Devitt Griggs thanks for joining us this week for family policy matters. Technology becomes ever more ingrained in our lives. With each passing year and most of us recognize the Todd between both the good guys and some serious pitfalls so are there some guiding principles that we as Christians should consider, regarding how we incorporate technologies into our lives and our families lives like today has done some deep thinking and extensive research on this topic. Dr. Craig Gaye is professor at Regent College in Vancouver Canada where he lectures and writes on Christianity, society and culture pleased with the new book entitled modern technology and the human future of Christian appraisal Dr. Craig game.

Welcome to family policy matters. Be glad to be here when you open your book by pointing out the important and long-standing role of all sorts of technology in the human experience. So what's different about modern technology. Compared to the technology of generations past the big question, but let me just start with the basic definition of technology in the one I work with our Savior technology, the development of practical tools, processes for the sake of improving the quality of our large technology lifts us out of the immediacy and related tyranny of natural existence and enabled us to gain a kind of distant from nature.

So for example if it's more human to live in a house than a cave wall to eat cooked food cooked and prepared food rather than law to wear clothing to communicate in words rather than simply in gestures to create and value artistic expression and the list could go on and on technology. In many ways what has made us human. It's what enabled us to know natural world to think about it, to rearrange and cultivated to use it in our technologies short and very often have enabled us to become more of ourselves more conscious, more deeply reflective, more present to each other and more engaged with our natural world.

No, we get into the modern technology question built are defined modern technology revision.

This is basic definition of the systematic application of scientific knowledge to practical tasks, and although I think we ought to be deeply grateful for modern technological development very deeply grateful for my concern is that modern technology and specifically automatic machine technology is not making us more human is not enabling us to be more reflective, more present to each other and more engaged with the world. It's doing a lot of things for us you're providing us with a lot of stuff, but it's also seems to be leaving us diminished and in the process were surrounded by examples of this today. The harried pace of modern life as we are in a sense forced to adapt to machine systems and rhythms. The elimination of place for the sake of commercialized space. The dizzying pace of technological change from an open up any newspaper today and you'll read about these sorts of concerns and for some reason it seems as if we are allowing our technologies to either pose themselves between us and reality. In such a way as to break or disrupt our relations with each other with created nature even between ourselves and our own bodies and why you, why are we allowing this to happen, why aren't we more concerned about it and once we do become concerned what will these are the kinds of questions re: our charter. I asked him, and I try to answer and in the books.

So clearly you have concerns and we don't need to run into new technologies without evaluating and critiquing their impact on our lives.

So what sort of biblical principles are there that you can help us with so that we can do that. The key thing to keep in mind when we ask questions like, should we use this or that technology is simply kinds of people are we wanting to become and the Bible obviously offers us all kinds of help with this, as Christians, and, in short, we are wanted to become more and more like Christ in their funeral course a lot we could say about that. But once we have our end goal clearly in view then questions about this or that technology become much easier to answer because the question then is simply does this or that technology standard good chance of helping us to become the kinds of people we are desiring to become or not the district you all kinds of typical resources for helping us to decide where is were trying to go and who we are trying to become. No I mean I think evangelical Christians have wheel we have a reputation for being good at programs.

Good systems good at organization but I think we ought maybe to strive to embellish our reputation for being personal great point listening to family policy matters weekly radio show and podcast of the North Carolina family policy Council. This is just one of the many ways since he works to educate citizens across Mr. a lot of about policy issues that impact a lot of families. Our vision is to create a state a nation where God is on religious freedom sources, families and life's cherished more information about his family and how you can help us to achieve this incredible vision for our state and nation. Visit our website and see family.org and see family.org and be sure to sign up to receive our email updates, action alerts, and of course our flagship publication family North Carolina magazine would also love for you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and so let's talk in light what you just said about being deeply personal and present. Let's talk about social media. How does this affect how we as Christians should think about and use social media for single-stranded title user for a variety of reasons a minute and partly out of principal, partly just because I'm I'm sort of too old for, but it there's a lot to be said here. I recommend the recent Netflix documentary called the social dilemma. For starters, take a look at that very interesting interviews with all of Barry's engineers and people who designed these platforms and these are people who are now very concerned about it and it's it's a sobering watch. There's also a mountain of social scientific evidence piling up indicating the social media is not actually helping us to become more genuinely social. Instead, it seems to be implicated in a host of social and psychological disorders ranging from loneliness and anxiety to very serious social social pathology. I mean, I'm sure there good things to be said about it, but I don't think were going to look back on this era of social media as a particularly positive time chimed.

I am concerned about it and I think I might advice to people's fears to get off the screen as much as she possibly can so talk about the technologies mentioned that some before bed talk a little bit more about how it impacts our relationships with others and even our perspective of humanity. The big question probably too big to answer briefly but up our technologies and especially communications technologies always have vast personal social and political implications.

They always have. They always do. My concern at the moment is that for all of our enthusiasm for the things that technology is going to do for us in all of this to them for what's next in and more and bigger and better and faster. And all this, we seem to have lost sight of our humanity, or worse that we are actually re-envisioning ourselves in technical technological terms and an understanding humanity in terms of machine value. Let me leave it at that III think the problem today is that were were not spending enough time thinking about what it means to be genuinely human than a part of that is because we just become entranced by all of the possibilities for the seeming possibilities of technological development. Let's talk about virtual reality churches. I think that it's how you describe them and you and you you're not a fan and most of us have had to do a lot of that this year. Talk about life, see that as a problem, but what concerns me or Clark comments. Did you know you hear occasionally that the church's future lies in an increasingly virtual environment, yet this last year has I mean I'm ungrateful for for human and other digital platforms that have enabled us to to keep doing many things men are our churches been meeting on zoom now for since March.

Our college show all of her classes are now online and you ungrateful without immunity of the word, presumably we wouldn't be able to do anything so that would be to critical about it, but again, but for those suggestions of Neil maybe this is the future. The future of the church will be just online or oriental in this virtual space. It seems to me that very core Christian convictions about the importance of human embodiment and the convictions of stem from basic doctrines doctrine of creation. The proclamation of the incarnation and resurrection. All of these things suggest that this this simply cannot and will not be true for the church. The church's future lies in more embodiment, not less likely. We look forward to our glorious embodiment and a fully redeemed and fully actualized created order, and I think this is the kind of thing we want to bear witness you and also to celebrate now and anticipate by striving to be as actually present to each other as possible and feel. This includes gathering together and being with each other, being present to each other in real time.

Real, real space, so you that's what I was. That's why I'm I'm I'm I'm not a big fan of the virtual thing even though as a stopgap you know I'm grateful for, but I'm certainly looking forward to getting back together with my brothers and sisters and in a real place in the in real time, well just about out of time for this week. But before we go. Dr. Gay where listeners go to get a copy of your book. Modern technology and the human future Christian appraisal. Let me just say that the book is published by inter-varsity press and it is available on cash by think anywhere University press books are sold. Which is basically everywhere.

Dr. Craig again, thank you so much for being with us on family policy matters. You can listing the family policy matters. We hope you enjoy the program and plenitude in again next week to listen to the show online insulin more about NC families want to inform, encourage and inspire families across both are a lot of our website it NC family.org that's NC family.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you and your family