In other sections, we examined at the question of whether or not science and technology really were incompatible with religion as is so commonly thought. I offer no definitive answer here, but I think that I have sufficiently muddied the waters of "conventional wisdom" among atheists that there is absolute incompatibility. It seems that they can be very compatible at times, and furthermore that the pursuit of technological advancement has often been a direct result of religion and religious aspirations.
But what should concern secularists and nonbelievers more is the fact that those religious aspirations are not always obviously religious in nature — and if they aren't so obviously religious in the traditional sense, one might not recognize a growing religious impulse within themselves. Sometimes, the desire or promotion of technological progress has stemmed from the fundamental religious impulse to transcend humanity. While the traditional religious stories and mythology (such as explicit Christian references to Eden) may have since fallen away, the impulse remains fundamentally religious, even when this is no longer recognizable to those actively engaged in it.
For all the other-worldly goals of transcendence, however, very worldly powers have benefitted. Benedictine monks were among the first to use technology as a spiritual tool, but eventually their status depended upon their loyalty to kings and popes — and so labor stopped being a form of prayer and became a means for wealth and taxes. Francis Bacon dreamed of technological redemption, but achieved the enrichment of the royal court and always placed the leadership of a new Eden in the hands of aristocratic and scientific elite.
The pattern continues today: the developers of nuclear weapons, space exploration and artificial intelligence may be propelled by religious desires, but they are sustained by military financing and the results of their labors are more powerful governments, more pernicious status quo, and a more preeminent elite of technocrats.
Technology as Religion
Technology causes problems; there is no disputing this fact, despite all our attempts to use technology to solve our problems. People keep wondering why new technologies have not solved our problems and met our needs; perhaps now, we can suggest one possible and partial answer: they were never meant to.
For many, the development of new technologies has been about transcending mortal and material concerns completely. When an ideology, a religion, or a technology is pursued for the purpose of escaping the human condition where problems and disappointments are a fact of life, then it shouldn't be at all surprising when those human problems are not really solved, when human needs are not entirely met and new problems are produced.
This is itself a fundamental problem with religion and why technology can be a menace — especially when pursued for religious reasons. I am by no means a luddite and do not dispute the use of technology. For all the problems which we create for ourselves, only we will be able to solve them — and technology will be one of our principle means. What is required is not so much a change of means by abandoning technology, but a change in ideology by abandoning the misguided desire for transcending the human condition and taking flight from the world.
This won't be easy to do. Over the past couple of centuries, technological development has come to be seen inevitable and essentially deterministic. The use and development of technology has been removed from political and ideological debates. The goals are no longer considered, just the means. It has been assumed that technological progress will automatically result in an improved society — just witness the race to install computers in schools without any consideration of how they will be used, much less any attempt to consider who will pay for technicians, upgrades, training and maintenance once the computers are purchased. Asking about this is seen as irrelevant — and worse, irreverent.
But this is something which we atheists and secularists in particular must ask ourselves. A great many of us are big promoters of technology. Most reading this on the internet are big fans of the powers and potentials of cyberspace. We have already rejected traditional religious mythologies as motivations in our lives, but have any of us missed inherited motivations towards transcendence in our technological boosterism? How many secular atheists who otherwise spend time critiquing religion are actually driven by an unrecognized religious impulse to transcend humanity when they are promoting science or technology?
We must take a long, hard look at ourselves and answer honestly: are we looking to technology to escape the human condition with all its problems and disappointments? Or are we instead looking to enhance the human condition, flaws and imperfections notwithstanding?
