A conversation with
a friend this morning reminded me how “wired” I am. I am so reliant on “smart” things, but I have NO idea how any
of them works. If one malfunctions – well, remember HAL in 2001?
Take the other
night: Doug wanted to know if I heard a buzzing.
I did.
We walked around the
house, putting our ears up to the microwave, freezer, refridge . . . we even
opened the back door to listen to the AC unit. Finally, I listened to my purse and drew out my phone, which
was trembling – no kidding – and emitting an annoying buzz. I couldn’t
turn it on to diagnose the issue – it reminded me of when one our kids were
sick, and before they were old enough to tell me where it hurt.
Was the battery low?
I plugged it in. No
response, only buzzing. Doug nestled it within a dishtowel to deaden its
persistent din. An hour later, it was still complaining and I wanted to go to
bed.
Should I leave it
plugged in?
What if a low
battery was not the issue, and keeping it connected to a power source would
fuel an explosion?
I remembered
computer batteries can set a computer on fire –or something to that effect. So,
I unplugged the phone, still kept it wrapped up, and set beside the front door.
Yes, I did – that way the firemen could easily find the source of the fire that
might consume us in the night. Just enough knowledge to be useless!
No such flare-up
disturbed us. By the morning – the phone indicated to Doug its battery was low.
So, I plugged it in and within an
hour, all was well. I still don’t know exactly why the phone, which I thought
was charged 65%, went nuts.
So, although I don’t
exactly why or how any of my electronic devices do anything, these conveniences
have become oh so necessary for comfort and amusement, and community. And I am not alone. The world is as
dependent on invisible power, most of us cannot comprehend, for our entire well-being.
Consider our
responses when we misplace a remote control, or the smart technology guiding
our lives fails. If I am not
tearing the couch apart, looking for the control, I am yelling at a recording
patiently asking me who I am, where I am, and in a word describe my problem.
Or, I have just disconnected myself from its probing questions, or any
possibility of solving the problem my smart appliance has dropped in my lap.
Am I behaving toward
the increasingly ubiquitous technology the way anti-theists react to God?
.
. . Many smart technologies are heading in another, more disturbing direction.
A number of thinkers in Silicon Valley see these technologies as a way not just
to give consumers new products that they want but to push them to behave
better. Sometimes this will be a nudge; sometimes it will be a shove. But the
central idea is clear: social engineering disguised as product engineering. (Is
Smart Making Us DUMB?)
When people get
angry at God, or with the idea of God it is often because He’s laid out some game-changers
for our conduct. Most who resist the God of Scripture have heard about Him, but
not studied His word. It’s up to Christians to be the closest thing to the
Bible the world may see – and we aren’t always so great at doing this. But, perhaps the warning in the Wall
Street Journal piece mentioned above can apply to us?
Truly
smart technologies will remind us that we are not mere automatons who assist
big data in asking and answering questions. Unless designers of smart
technologies take stock of the complexity and richness of the lived human
experience—with its gaps, challenges and conflicts—their inventions will be
destined for the SmartBin of history.
Unless we see the
humanity in those with whom we differ, and until we learn to speak the language, and
feel the pain, of this generation, we may be like I was: hearing a buzz,
feeling the tremble, being terrified I could be harmed in the
encounter – but not having a clue how to be useful.
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