Habits Of The High-Tech Heart

A summary of:
Schultze, Q. J. (2002). Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously inwards the Information Age. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
Foreward in addition to Preface

Jean Bethke Elshtain writes inwards the forrard that to the extent that in that place is a organized faith of technology, this organized faith is built upon the quicksand of libertarian individualism in addition to saltation together yesteryear consumerism. This means, then, that "In this vision, nosotros are non saltation to i some other inwards noun in addition to constitutive ways inwards families, churches, or politics" (9). The essence of it lacks what religions ostensibly serve to provide, i.e. the "moral stuff of our lives" (9). Furthermore, it weakens what Durkheim identified equally a fundamental characteristic of religous experience, i.e. the "collective effervescence" equally he called it, because indeed "Cyberculture disconnects us from human communities inwards a item termporal location... fifty-fifty equally it connects us inwards sparse ways to strangers" (10). The community is of import - in addition to nosotros engage alongside it - but inwards equally much equally it is useful to us, such that "Human relations remove maintain on a character of temporariness in addition to continue on strictly cost-benefit lines" (10).

Elshtain emphasizes Schultze's indicate that our abandoment of organized faith has left us morally confused (Schultze mightiness fifty-fifty say bereft), specially equally it relates to our engagement alongside technology. This forced me to inquire myself, Why am I non talking virtually designing "moral technology"? There are in all likelihood several reasons, but i is because if I am to speak virtually morality without firstly grounding this morality inwards spirituality, I'm afraid that the morality I speak about, too, volition last tainted yesteryear the values that underpin technology. In other words, I retrieve it's best to commence from spiritual practice, hence teach to morals, hence utilization that to inform the pattern of technology; rather than to (seemingly equally Schultze does inwards this book, inwards fact) critique engineering scientific discipline for its lack of for certain presumed morals. Where do these morals come upwards from? How did they constituent inwards guild inwards the past?

Another ground is that inwards my heed (perhaps wrongly), morality implies dogma, whereas spirituality implies guidance. I do non wishing to impose my morality on anyone else, no affair how much I similar to retrieve I'm right. But what I am interested inwards is exploring novel ways inwards which engineering scientific discipline tin accommodate choice value sets. It's a chip to a greater extent than passive, hence I prefer the softer terminology.

Elshtain uses the phrase "responsible stewardship" to evoke a moral imperative to demeanour differently than nosotros are currently in addition to to recognize our of import purpose inwards the creation of our future. She writes, "it is responsible stewardship lonely that volition create upwards one's heed whether the futurity is i inwards which nosotros are all wired equally millions of isolates or whether nosotros are connected equally creatures of the flesh who tin last lifted upwards inwards spirit in addition to nurtured inwards promise but through community" (11). Again, the emphasis is on community. I'm but immediately commencement to realize that the progression of my academic career makes a chip of sense: it's ever been virtually communities. So when I wrote previously virtually fostering social uppercase through digital technologies, this was some other way of describing what I run across equally a lack of a community spirit that inwards some way engineering scientific discipline needs to address. Fostering social uppercase is an endeavour to harness the collectivity, which inwards many ways relates to the optic of spiritual or religious practise (again, Durkheim's “collective effervescence”). My promise (and what I volition explore inwards my PhD) is that nosotros tin create to a greater extent than spiritual technology, something that imbues a moral consciousness into our engagements alongside it in addition to alongside our communities through it, in addition to inwards plow reinforce our sense of a collective responsibleness to i another, all of which may real good afterwards last couched inwards social uppercase terms.

There is, however, a personal sense of engineering scientific discipline in addition to the technological world, in addition to this also is real disturbed (say I, in addition to Schultze). Schultze begins, "This majority is partly a personal journeying to notice my way inwards an era when many human beings seem, similar me, to remove maintain wandered off the trail that leads to what Socrates called the 'good life'" (13). Bizarrely, equally I'm reading Schultze's book, ostensibly virtually religious morality inwards the high-tech age, I am constantly reminded of Karl Marx's warnings virtually the way capitalism destroys what is hence cracking virtually beingness a human.

Right off the bat, Schultze echoes what I remove maintain identified equally a critical flaw alongside engineering scientific discipline - in addition to potentially its eventual downfall if it becomes redundant for us: "they [technologies] do non satisfy my ask for moral coherence in addition to spiritual direction" (13). Quite the contrary, Schultze argues that they distract in addition to confuse, actively preventing the achievement of these goals.

While I retrieve Schultze in addition to I are essentially concerned alongside the problem, our solutions are perhaps real different. His stated finish is equally follows: "My finish is non hence much to discard database in addition to messaging technologies equally much equally to arrange them to venerable ways of life anchored inwards age-old virtues" (13). This implies youngster tweaking. I'm suggesting major overhauling, revisioning of the foundations of technological development. For example, this would non hateful changing how nosotros message, but imagining upwards solely novel possibilities for communication non yet explored inwards technology. The ground this radical approach is necessary is because, I fear, the engineering scientific discipline nosotros are familiar alongside is built upon a foundation that reinforces values anathema to the religious or spiritual (something Wertheim's majority exposed).