Reconciling Technology and Spirituality

So I begin my look at digital media literacy by trying to place technology, and man’s relationship with it, into some sort of context. How do we reconcile our ethical development (or as Silverstone identifies all these human questions as our spirituality) with technology?Looking back, I realise this is a topic that I have struggled with through most of my post graduate career. Whilst studying the history of medicine, this theme ran through most of my papers. The reconciliation of Spirituality and Scientific Technological development. So I will use some of that knowledge to attempt to piece together a historical understanding man’s relationship to technology and his spirituality.To start at the roots of Western philosophy (or at least commonly accepted western philosophy, apologies to Martin Bernal), I begin with the ancient Greeks, who indeed have their own god of technology (or techne), Hephaesteus. Interesting points about Haephaesteus are that he is not much worshiped, is heavily associated with shame, and is valued chiefly for the usefulness of what he creates. All in all he has a pretty low position in Olympus- although, he does have the pleasure of being married to the beautiful Aphrodite- goddess of love. (Here is a point of interest: Aphrodite, the representation of love, which is all that is most divine and most spiritual- is married to technology. An interesting reconciliation. Certainly there can be many other arguments, but its my blog, so I’ll make this one.)For the Greeks then, the concept of techne and technology is to serve a function, to serve something else (or someone else, like Zeus), not to be valued as something in its own right worthy of worship.As the Greek view develops, the view of techne changes with it. This is seen in the ideas presented by Socrates whose myth about Atlantis, a society whose technological development outpaces its ethical development, demonstrates concerns surrounding what must have been a topical issue. What I particularly like about the Atlantis myth is that with all their technology, it is the passionate conviction in justice and the truth (the Athenians very spirituality) that wins them the wars against the Atlanteans. Spirituality is worth more than technology.This view, as it moves forward in time to the Romans, shows that technology continues to be important, but is not imbued with its own sense of value for its own sake, rather, that it continues to be useful in how it serves a society, such as its usefulness in building vast structures, creating roads and giving the society a military edge. (although it must be observed that the Roman’s suffer defeat at the hands of lesser technologically developed people who have a more defined sense of spiritedness- such as the Germans and Britons.)Further, I would point out that the prime motivation of Rome is its belief in its divine mission (pax deorum) and that its function is still a moral imperative not a technological one, indeed, this moral and spiritual core is further reflected in the marriage of Rome and Christianity in the Holy Roman Empire under Constantine and as the Roman empire breaks apart, so goes its technology.Under the church and thought the dark ages, new historiography observes that historically the church was interested in pursuing science and certainly had an interest in technology, but again, the role of technology was one of service, subservient to the human spirit.For me, it is the period of the enlightenment which changes this view. As man becomes increasingly “scientific” he seems to block out his relationship with the spirit in favour of his belief in technology (this concept of where he puts his belief being an important one). For me, it is in 1794 when Hunter discovers that the human heart acts like a pump that clinches the belief that man IS a machine that we suddenly find ourselves so completely at ease with technology and our view of it becomes all-accepting.This idea, of man as a machine, with machine-like parts which are inter-changeable and can be replaced to prolong the overall life of the machine as a whole could also be said to be foundational in the concept of blood and organ transplant.Indeed, the harmonious relationship between man and machine can be seen advertised in the many technological attachments people use (from their headphones on mp3 players, to their mobile phones which in many cases people seem completely inseparable from.) Indeed, this relationship between man and machine is no longer to fill any sort of medical deficiency or problem, but rather a relationship based entirely on convenience and, in some cases almost a culture of worship in which people marvel at the newest technological development (a new phone or computer program) without fully understanding its relevancy to their lives, but which they still happily invest in. Technology has become an object of worship.It appears that we have continued on until we are no longer certain of the uses of technology; it is no longer a matter of technology benefiting us, but rather of us finding benefits for technology. In other words, we have now reached a point where technology is no longer serving us, but where we are serving technology.For me, it is as if Hephasteus suddenly took over Olympus and enslaved the other gods to do his bidding.To take this history of the reconciliation of technology and ethics and now apply it to the digital world, we observe that the focus has shifted so far into the mechanistic belief in humanity that we now need to assert effort into answering the ethical questions in order to have a balanced world view and to maintain a relationship with technology in which it serves our best interests (as opposed to humanity serving technology).