The Myth of Tech Utopianism
Whether Mammon or magic, we look to tech to save us from our humanity.
Thanks for being here! At Beauty Leads the Way, you’ll find writing at the intersection of culture and Christian faith. I’m planning to get back to weekly writing, thanks for sticking with me. If you haven’t already, please:
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In the wake of more political violence over the last several weeks, and the subsequent internet shouting matches and tribalism, to not write about such things can seem tone-deaf.
We must also remember that no matter the violence, there is daily grace too: a meal, a laugh, a hug, the pleasure of a graceful sentence (a phrase I’ve stolen from Marilyn McEntyre from my undergrad days). Surely, even in this contentious times, we are still human—with human things to love.
We still must ask the deep questions: questions of formation and virtue, questions of purpose and calling, questions like: How on earth did we get here?
It is to one of those questions I turn. Earlier in the summer, I’d traveled to hear Mary Harrington speak on her book, Feminism Against Progress. Perhaps you bristle at the word “feminism” in the title, or maybe you pump a fist in the air. Whatever your reaction, her claims are clear: the feminist movement (particularly its second wave) wasn’t good for actual women. What it has lead to is a “progress theology,” a belief that we are constantly improving and we tend to reach for the mechanical to work to endlessly perfect ourselves.
Production was taken from the household to the factory. Value was measured in hours worked rather than finding that our work must support the social fabric. Women no longer could work with children under their feet at home, but with the Industrial Revolution, the means of production were detached from family life. She writes a feminism of progress replaced a feminism of care.
In the 21st century this narrative of progress has merged with the machine. (And she has much to say about transhumanism and transgenderism).
When I sat across from the author at dinner, I asked: Is AI really that bad? Is it a Christian’s responsibility to do something? Her answer was clear: yes.
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It was then to these thoughts I turned for an article at Christianity Today. I began with an old form of technology, one that doesn’t seem as nefarious as an AI chatbot who gives explicit instructions for committing suicide.
After 18 years and many failed attempts, the US and Britain laid down the transatlantic telegraph cable successfully in 1858. The first message on August 16 from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan expressed her congratulations for his presidential win.
Buchanan replied in a message that took more than 16 hours to transmit through thousands of miles of copper cables: “May the Atlantic telegraph, under the blessing of heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilization, liberty, and law throughout the world.”
We have long supposed technology can usher in utopia. Although it promises “perpetual peace,” the telos of modern technology more often detaches us from our bodies, our places, and our communities. Especially in artificially intelligent forms, technology makes us more machine than man, more functionality than being.
Technology often functions a bit like magic. The friction is gone, or lessened, and suddenly we have more time, more rest, more of what seems to be the good life. Don’t get me wrong, I really do appreciate my dishwasher. But I don’t expect it to provide “perpetual peace” or be something that will “diffuse religion, civilization, liberty, and law.” I’d just really like to wake up to clean dishes in the morning.
When we view technology in this way—as detached from the human person, and detached from human ties like marriage, parenthood, and our Christian and civic responsibilities—we perpetuate the lie Satan whispered in the Garden of Eden: You shall be like God. Our eyes widen at the prospect of unlimitedness.
But what we get is never good nor simple. It is what Mammon promises, what Mary Harrington calls “Meat Lego Gnosticism” or what Paul Kingsnorth calls “the Machine.” These are alternate spiritual allegiances that promise liberation but enslave. They are powers and idols.
Let us not think of ourselves so highly that we imagine idols as something “those people, back then” were susceptible to, but now we are more enlightened. This is exactly the “progress theology” about which Harrington warns.
Technology promises liberation from the pesky challenges of being human (such as motherhood, argues Harrington) in favor of “Meat Lego Gnosticism,” where we can disassemble and reassemble ourselves like fleshed Lego bricks to find an authentic, self-made individuality. Such liberation promises utopia in terms of equality, freedom, and a lack of consequences, but it ends up more akin to Frankenstein’s monster.
I hope you’ll go read the whole thing.
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What I’ve been up to and/or things I’m finding fascinating:
1. Willowbrae Institute Substack: My non-profit, The Willowbrae Institute, that researches the intersection of Christian faith and the common good in America now has a Substack, put out by our research coordinator Luke Lawrence. I hope you’ll subscribe.
2. Francis Schaeffer True Spirituality Conference: Bryce and I were invited to keynote this conference at Covenant College. We spoke about resilient and fruitful faith in relation to this cultural moment. You can see our opening lecture here. (I had a subsequent lecture on the affections and Bryce on secularism and exilic identity).
3. Log off with a paper book or magazine: This October, I’m reading The Turn of the Screw with our church’s book club. I highly recommend a cup of tea and a slightly creepy book for this time of the year. The ability to put down the technology or screen is just an added bonus.