Category: Philosophy

     We often hear the term “Modern Times” with little explanation as to what it really means. Every generation likes to think they have reached the pinnacle of history and thus baptize themselves as “modern.” People have been calling themselves “modern” since the nineteenth century. When we look at old pictures from back then or watch documentaries or read up on that time period modern is hardly the word that comes to mind. They were primitive compared to today’s standards. They rode around in horse and buggy. They did not get electric lightening until relatively late in the 1800’s. They had no computers or smartphones or antibiotics. Life expectancy was 40 years old. They still burnt coal in their ovens. Women couldn’t vote. Minorities were overtly discriminated against. Yet historians call this time “the century of progress.”

The nineteenth century gave us the idea of inevitable progress, which means history is moving toward an irreversible crescendo. Technological progress will bring us the ideal society or utopia. Religion calls this the Omega Point and science calls it the Singularity. Like today they defined improvement technologically. As technology advances across time and space it brings with it societal evolution or the world is getting better and better with each new innovation. Technology eliminates poverty, disease, war, increases communication and with that comes peace, increases the standard of living, extends life expectancy and improves the overall well-being of humanity. Technology is civilization. Technology brings happiness. Little thought was given to the environment or minority rights. Equality and a green future for all were a twentieth century invention. A very dark side of the century of progress seldom mentioned today was the advancement of racism as concomitant with technological progress. Progress was for industrialized white people, the rest of the world was subject to their control. Today we know this as Western colonialism. The world they made is what both Western and non-Western people have inherited.  For better or worse we live in a world they created.

     Today the century of progress looks old fashioned, but its central contribution the idea of progress is still with us and undergirds the whole modern project. Thus technological progress is the driving force of any definition of modernity. If we use modern technology we are modern people as opposed to ancient people. The birth of Christ once separated the ancient world from the modern. History was divided into two halves before Christ and after Christ secularized now as BCE (Before Current Era) and CE (Current Era), but even though the name of Christ has been removed from the wording, the birth of Jesus remains the reference point between the new and the old.

     The exponential explosion in new technology witnessed today has replaced Jesus Christ as the dividing line between ancient and modern. Technological modernity is relatively new. We did not enter the modern era until around 1800 with the birth of the industrial revolution, which over shadows the American, French, Russian and Chinese Revolutions in its existential effects on twenty first century people.

     It goes without saying that our times are the height of the times and getting even higher with each passing year. What makes us different is not love of wisdom, or God or humanity but the tremendous success of our science and technology, the search for power over others and natural forces. We live in a world surrounded by the artificial as opposed to ancient people who lived in communities surrounded in a natural environment. Modern people have less and less contact with others. We have been socially atomized living in exclusive technological enclaves surrounded by gadgets and air condition. Nature is disappearing before our eyes, look at deforestation and the rapid growth in extinction of species, the disappearance of the rain forests. Progress is not free. We pay for each innovation with giving up something from our history, in our case, humanity and nature.

     Is modernity a curse or a blessing? We should know that we cannot have the good without the bad. Positive and negative consequences are inseparable. To think otherwise is simply naïve. We all love technology. What’s not to like, cars, smartphones, computers, medicine, we can’t live without them. But we must not be blinded by the idea of progress that says the world is improving because our technology is growing. Just as many problems are raised by our success as solutions. Technological progress bought us racism. War is not ending and peace beginning because we have improved the means of communication. In fact, war remains the number one threat that may very well bring the whole house crashing down on us, especially nuclear war. Yet nuclear weapons were once hailed as a further step in progress that will eventually end war. Technology is polluting the environment and disturbing the delicate ecosystem that we cannot live without. Do we really want to live in a world without trees, birds and flowers? Extended life expectancy and the eradication of disease are over populating the planet. Future wars will be fought over food and water instead of oil and ideology.

     Modernity brings both the good and the bad. So we must remain skeptical as to the belief that the world is improving because of innovation. A critical approach will help us transcend the modern world and move us toward limits. Remember progress means no limits to science and technology allowing them to go where ever they take us and because it is inevitable it cannot be stopped. This proves nothing less than a recipe for disaster. When we seek boundaries to technology we declare that all people are accountable to a higher standard and that we cannot do whatever we like for simple reason that it can be done.

The Bible ends with the faithful living for eternity in the celestial City of God or the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-27). Likewise, subsequent to the Fall of Adam and Eve Scripture talks about the City of Man or Babylon (Genesis 11:1-9),which represents human forces that attempt to over throw the power of God with the their religion and technological abilities. Knowledge is power. So great a threat does Babylon become that God descends to meet them in their ascendancy to heaven, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded” (Genesis 11:4-5). When humanity rises above the clouds of their created position God comes down the see its accomplishments. This gives new meaning to the old saying, “Prepare to meet thy maker.” Humanity in its rebellion is a powerful force over the face of the earth, one that challenges God’s supremacy. God takes this encounter very seriously and recognizes the spark of divinity that he himself created in us, “God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). Humanity has extraordinary capabilities to change the world according to its own ambitions, ”nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” (Genesis 11:6).

Applied to our times this means the advancement of technological progress that seeks only to reshape the world according to humanity’s fallen image; instead of following the divine likeness, which checks our development to see that it does not proceed out of control to human detriment and the defacement of God’s character. This limit is meant only for the glory of God in conjunction with the betterment of the human race.

We can think of the inherent power of genetic engineering capable of reconstructing not only the human genetic code but of every living thing on earth; or a global computer system that can monitor everyone who uses it. What will happen when the ideal person is conceived or a new view of nature is brought forth by those in power who have the ability to enforce their will on the rest of us? In Genesis the Lord took Babylon down a notch by scattering their concentration in one ideal place across the earth and confused their language to end the control of Nimord, the king of Babylon. And Revelation declares the end of spiritual Babylon, all would be aspirants to claim of universal power, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, the great city” (Revelation 14:8). Judgment awaits the City of Man, all who play God.

But there’s another side to this story. The City of God eventually triumphs over the City of Man. God chose a city as the ideal of his will for mankind. Recall that the Bible begins with the Garden of Eden, the divine habitation for Adam and Eve, but ends with the city, a human creation: ability, culture and technology. The New Jerusalem was bedecked with all kinds of precious stones, jewels and pearls. A city made of transparent gold. Now God has no use for fineries such as these. They are included in the description of the divine habitation of redeem humanity because we esteem them as valuable. We make them and accord them worth. This is our technology. And as such God recognizes its importance. God and mankind are both creators and work together for the ideal world. Our technology will be redeemed along with us. And this salvation is not for the bye and bye but begins now here on earth. Technology used for the glory of God and the progress of the human race.

What will this redemption look like? Well for starters, going back to Genesis 11, God was displeased with the one world system ruled by one man so he confused their language, so that they would spread across the face of the earth. Language is a kind of technology that should be used to create diversity and honor the differences in the human race. God is an individualist and a pluralist. He believes in and values the worth and importance of every person and cultural diversity. Technology that empowers the individual and decentralizes knowledge and power and promotes cultural differences and plurality of thought approaches redemption. I say “approaches” because redemption is always an ongoing process which like the salvation of our bodies, is never finally complete until we enter the eternal age. It begins here and now and finds perfection in the New Jerusalem. God says from his eternal throne, “Look, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). This includes human nature and human culture, all our abilities and creations. Our art, technology and great cities will be with us in heaven to the glory of God.          

     The world moves forward through the process of trial and error. Science and technology need to make mistakes before it gets it right. How many different sets of wings did people try to fly with before the Wright brothers were “first in flight.” Werner Von Braun performed innumerous test flights before he perfected the rocket that reached the moon. Even in our daily routines and jobs we commit many errors in our performance. This leads us to be better workers. In school spelling, grammar and pronunciation inaccuracies help us to the correct use of language. In raising children missteps with our first child cause us to do better with our second. Wisdom means learning from our faults and blunders, not making the same mistake twice. We can only grow through recognizing our short comings and taking the appropriate steps to change them.

     But we face a serious quandary with twenty-first century technology namely: genetics, nuclear power and an entire planet dependent on a very fragile computer system. Gaffes, inaccuracies and oversights are the least thing we can afford. Genetic slip-ups can lead to horrible mutations. What happens when errors are made when genetic engineering is applied to humans? Faulty equipment and human error at nuclear power plants can cause meltdowns that lead to radiation poisoning of the environment and the death of thousands. Chernobyl is a case in point. A lapse in judgment or miscalculation might initiate a First Strike. Some believe that the use of nuclear weapons by any one of the nuclear powers is inevitable over the course of many decades and centuries. How wise is it to entrust the safety and security of our lives to a giant computer system that if it fails even a little will do untold damage? A solar storm, although rare, can affect GPS satellites. A few years ago sun spots interrupted cell phone service. People went running for the pay phones. Today those phones are gone. What will happen to our ability to communicate and preform simple transactions without our smart phones?

     I have no ready answer to these problems. I don’t think anyone does. How are we to grow in knowledge and wisdom to protect ourselves and make the world a better place, something I firmly believe in, without mistakes? We need to limit our dependence on technology use, something nearly impossible to do in this society. But if we don’t find a way to do so we could be setting future generations up for disaster.   

     I am a child of the Cold War, as such I grew up with an innate fear of Russian aggression. The fear of global nuclear war was rampant in the 1980’s, especially during Regan’s first term in office. Some described him as a warmonger who would enrage the Soviets with his war rhetoric and nuclear bomb building programs. Others felt he was a hero who would stand up to Russian expansionism. In either case he would not be bullied by the bear.

     Today with the war in Ukraine the old fears of the Russian empire have returned, even the threat of use of nuclear weapons has not been ruled out by the Russians. Putin has laid down the challenge that he would use nuclear weapons on any nation interfering with his “special operation” in Ukraine. The whole notion of nuclear war with the Russians is unthinkable, even for Putin. There are no winners in a nuclear war. But Putin has seized upon this opportunity to flex his rhetorical might to scare us. He sees himself as a liberator cleansing Ukraine of Nazis and resisting Western exploitation. His military machine is formidable. And his nuclear stockpile has over two thousand more warheads than the US. His invasion of Ukraine demonstrates a reckless willingness to accomplish his objectives by any means necessary. He is an unstable force in the global political scene. It has even been suggested that the war in Ukraine will encourage the Chinese who have set their sights on Taiwan. He is a scary person and these are perilous times for the cause of peace, but they are not any worse than what we have experienced before.

     The NATO alliance must hold fast to its resolve to expel the Russians from Ukraine and protect the safety and integrity of its borders from aggression. Fear should have no place in our hearts. The West won the war of words before. We will do so again!