Craig Detweiler Quotes
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We will still need to consider the implications of our blind faith in technology because the iGods’ promises did not point to or include the divine. Instead, they suggested that we are becoming divine as we develop such amazing intelligence within smaller and smaller devices, so small that a point of Singularity will blur humanity with machine, our minds with eternity. Should we find this inspiring or distressing? What is the telos of technology—the end goal?
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When we treat the earth as an object, we dehumanize ourselves.
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Google keeps their formulas secret even as they devour more of our habits. CEO Eric Schmidt believes that what customers want is for Google to “tell them what they should be doing next.” Such pronouncements awaken fears of Big Brother or The Matrix. We may need to reclaim our agency, our responsibility.
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Our faith in technology connects us to long lost friends. It also enables us to avoid people we’d rather text with than talk to. It is our hiding place. Our faith in technology is so widespread that we feel we must be always available, always connected. Technology demands our attention. Our faith in technology is so complete that we place devices into our children’s hands at earlier ages and stages. We train our kids to look down rather than up. Our faith in technology is so passionate that we rarely question the wisdom of our embrace. We text now, worry later. Our embrace of technology is so boundless that we have poured staggering riches on those who brought us these magic devices.
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Jacques Ellul suggested too much information creates a confused sense of impotence: The infinite multiplicity of facts that I am given about each situation makes it impossible for me to choose or decide. I thus adopt the general attitude of letting things take their course. But the course that things take is essentially that of the process of technical development. . . . The more the number and power of means of intervention increase, the more the aptitude and ability and will to intervene diminishes. . . . Information is the main carrier of contraception.
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Technology at its finest is easy to adopt, quick to implement, and bound to be underappreciated.
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It is good to be connected to family and friends, but when we cannot resist the urge to check updates or upload a photo, we are veering toward idolatry. Idols serve our needs according to our schedule. When we call, they answer. They give us a false sense of being in control. But over time, the relationship reverses. We end up attending to their needs, centering our lives on their priorities and agendas.
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The network is waiting to see whether Jim Bob and Michelle can dig their family out of this substantial hole that they've created.
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When it comes to technology, we celebrate the icons of Silicon Valley as iGods worth emulating. We reward them for granting us superpowers. With a smartphone in our pocket, we can transcend the bodily limits of space and time. We can send and receive, buy and sell, upload and download with a swipe of our finger.
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We can be completely ignorant about how or why something works and yet still relish the results.
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The iGods started pure—Google wasn’t sure they wanted advertising. Going public with their stock resulted in the need for quarterly returns. It forced Google and Facebook to bow down to the even greater gods of commerce. The question of access remains. Who will control the flow of information? Will a few get rich at the expense of others? Techno-enthusiasts at the annual TED conference envision a gift economy where the sharing of ideas leads to profound breakthroughs in science and education. Others fear the controlling power of information technology. What happens when the information we share freely is aggregated aggressively, when too much information lands in the hands of the wrong company or country?
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While we like to think that our theology shapes our understanding of the world, our understanding of the world often shapes our theology. The central metaphors of an era will often shift our notions of God.
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We have been swamped by a tsunami of new technologies, without pausing to consider whether they are good or bad, helpful or hurtful. Are they making us more thoughtful, more articulate, more loving?
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A crying need for wisdom and discernment emerges in an era of too much information. What do we discover as we attempt to see through technology, to assess the promises it offers? Technology has become an alternative religion. It has distinct values, celebrated saints, and rites of passage. We sacrifice our privacy in exchange for services. Our passions become quantifiable, often reducing us to a target market or a call to monitor. This conclusion will focus on the eschatology of technology. What does all the efficiency point to? Where does a world of smaller, faster, and smarter gadgets lead?
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In an era of too much information, the need for discernment and wisdom will be greater than ever.
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What is the danger in the personalization era? Psychologists call it confirmation bias—“a tendency to believe things that reinforce our existing views, to see what we want to see.” What happens when we encounter new information that contradicts our beliefs? Researchers at Stanford monitored subjects’ brain activity to trace how they responded to cognitive dissonance. Democracy is endangered when we only listen to people we agree with.
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Sam Lessin, project manager at Facebook, suggests, “We as a species in the last few decades have gotten three new superpowers. . . . We can literally remember anything, we can talk to anyone on earth instantly for free, and we can process huge amounts of data.
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Bigger, louder, and faster don’t necessarily create deeper disciples.
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Our beliefs invariably drive our decision making.
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We exchange our privacy for access, and we may be losing our sense of agency in the process.
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The world of technology is the sum total of what people do. Its redemption can only come from changes in what people, individually and collectively, do or refrain from doing. —Ursula M. Franklin
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This is the iGods’ alluring and dangerous promise—to place us in the center of our own self-reflexive universe. But what if we don’t necessarily know what is best?
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Where shall we express our hopes and fears? If we post our concerns on Facebook, we may forget to cast our cares on the Lord, the one who sustains us in our sorrows.