Laughing Ourselves To Humility

A summary of:
Schultze, Q. J. (2002). Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously inward the Information Age. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
Chapter iv - Laughing Ourselves to Humility

There are sure as shooting religious communities that eschew modern technologies (Amish, Shakers, etc.); many precisely adopt a posture of reticence toward engineering scientific discipline (Christians together with others). We tin label these people together with anyone who is a fleck wary of computers every bit a Luddite. But the quest is, nosotros receive got ground to live reticent. We receive got in all probability all experienced a technological failure that exposes our techno-arrogance: e.g. the reckoner dies together with y'all haven't backed upwards a year's worth of work; the phone, which holds all your passwords, contacts, together with schedules dies, leaving y'all lost together with inward a pool of your ain tears. As Schultze says, "The resulting frustration together with fearfulness should opened upwards our hearts to the require for humility" (104).

In this chapter, Schultze argues that:

1) Technological evolution is an do inward human folly: "Our high-tech endeavors are riddled amongst foolishness masquerading every bit progress" (95). We intend of ourselves every bit experts, but how niggling nosotros genuinely know! As Schultze says, "Fools major inward the minors" (94); this seems to live our wheelhouse, focusing on the minutiae of technological knowledge. "Such fools," he writes, "lack the whole of creation, together with consciousness of our obligation to it" (95). I would phrase this occupation concern differently: that nosotros focus on detail, but nosotros are losing our might to intend holistically. Holism, I argue, is ane of the characteristics of a spiritual mindset.

2) We receive got to recognize the futility of our endeavors, because whenever nosotros intend nosotros are solving a occupation amongst a novel technology, nosotros are inevitably creating several novel problems. I oft verbalize most how piece nosotros persevere inward the pursuit of lessening our burdens, nosotros are counter-intuitively raising the expectations for how much move nosotros are responsible for doing, thus making our lives to a greater extent than hard (see John Thomas' work). Cultivating humility is to recognize that nosotros don't command everything: "Although the engineering scientific discipline that undergirds the information guild is the production of much rational sentiment together with remarkable technical achievement, its social nature together with moral acquit upon largely elude us" (94). And every bit Havel says, "we even together with then don't know how to pose morality ahead of politics, science, together with economics. We are even together with then incapable of agreement that the solely genuine inwardness of all actions - if they are to live moral - is responsibility" (105).

3) We'd live wise to fearfulness our technologies, because "Recognizing the potential for moral every bit good every bit technical disaster, nosotros require to convey the humility that comes amongst responsibility" (93). Reticence is hence salubrious because: "if nosotros lack whatsoever technological reticence, nosotros too lack responsibility" (107).

4) Humor is a useful means of fostering this humility, because it "fosters a proper feel of proportion, reveals our tomfoolery, and cultivates greater patience" (93). I liked this one: "'Without software,' says Barry, 'a reckoner is precisely a lump of plastic; whereas amongst software, it's a lump of plastic that tin permanently destroy critical data'" (111). Laughing amongst people is a form of empathy; it is a variation on pity (112).

An undersold quest raised past times this chapter is the sentiment that nosotros require to live humble plenty - together with brave plenty - to realize that nosotros require to brand changes... fifty-fifty if those changes are potentially enormous. "Once a human 'project acquires a sure as shooting size together with becomes vested amongst human dreams of "progress" or "liberation,"' writes Vinoth Ramachandra, 'it attains a life of its own, dragging human beings together with societies inward its wake" (102). Should nosotros non teach by against getting sucked into the quicksand? Let's pattern a amend cyber alternative.

And piece sometimes I don't know why Schultze says things where he does - they look random - he too makes an of import quest inward this chapter: "Either nosotros convey informational mythology every bit a feasible religion, or nosotros critique it from the advantage quest of a nontechnological tradition" (103). This is, inward a nutshell, my approach.