It has been just over a week since the death of Apple’s founder and innovation genius, Steve Jobs. Almost immediately Twitter, facebook, youTube and the blogosphere blew up as mourning people wrote epitaphs of his legacy. I was struck at how many people, Christians included, applauded him for “changing the world.” I use and value many of the products he introduced but I wonder how much we have thought about the cost of merely accepting and using every new machine thrown our way. In a discussion about the impact and place of technology I think it is valuable to know the story of the Greek god, Prometheus.
In the early days of the human race the essential characteristic of the human being was that each person knew the day of his or her death. That is to say, we knew our limits. Mortality was not a vague apprehension but a fixed date on the calendar. In such a condition and with such knowledge there was no incentive to do much more than exist. On top of that, the gods were capricious and brutal. They had the knowledge of how things worked and the means to accomplish them, they shared neither their knowledge nor their means. They were neither generous nor fair. They held all the significant cards on their own hands. So what is the use of trying? The basic human experience is of mortality and tyranny.
Prometheus, one of the gods, somehow became compassionately concerned about our plight and correspondingly angry at Zeus, the chief of the gods. He took it upon himself to do something about changing the human condition for the better. He did three things that would make a difference. First, he “caused mortals to cease foreseeing doom.” That is, he took away the knowledge of the day of death, the sense of limits. The awareness of mortality. Freed from a debilitating sense of doom, the human now could attempt anything. Second, he “placed in them blind hopes.” Prometheus instilled incentive in men and women to be more than they were, to reach out, to stretch themselves, to be ambitious. But the incentives were blind and directionless, unrelated to any reality. And third, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. With this gift, people were able to cook food, make weapons, fire pottery. The entire world of technology opened up.
By this act, Prometheus set us on the way we have continued: unmindful of limits, setting goals unrelated to the actual conditions of our humanity, and possessing the technical means to change the conditions under which we live. We don’t have to put up with things as they are. Things can be better; we have the means to accomplish whatever we want to do. Consequently, we humans don’t know that we are human; rather, we think we are gods and act like gods. The awareness of our mortality is lost to us. That would not be so bad if we did not have fire, the technological means to act out our illusions of divinity. As it is we have the technology of the gods without the wisdom of the gods.
Zeus, of course, was furious. He punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock in a remote mountain, exposed to the scorching sun and the cold moon. Every day vultures attacked him, tearing at his innards, eating his liver. Each night the liver would grow back, ready for the next day’s rapacious assault. Prometheus is unrepentant.
This is the story of Western civilization: incredible progress in things, defiantly unmindful of the nature of our humanity.*
The Apple technology that Steve Jobs created is both aesthetically pleasing and intuitively helpful, but does it give a transcendent sense of power and ultimately contribute to a false hope? I am not advocating for the elimination or avoidance of technology but rather a thoughtful recognition of where we can find real hope for from the world's problems.
Is it possible that by embracing all technology without limits or applied wisdom that our insides may be at risk? Might our souls be eroding while we feel powerful on the outside? Is being connected to what others are doing and thinking at all times conditioning our hearts to avoid silence? Does the ability to communicate with many instantly neglect the personal and contribute to the depersonalization of humanity?
My hope is that we all would think critically about the means we use to live as Kingdom people. As followers of Jesus, the way we do things is equally important as what we are doing. Our motives are great – to help others – but are we then free to justify the means?
So with appreciation and sadness, thank you Steve Jobs. And with prayerfulness and thoughtfulness let’s keep everything in perspective.
*This retelling of the Promethean story is from Eugene Peterson’s book Working the Angles. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids 1987, pp. 27-29.
The assist technological innovation that have designed in reaction to factors like the iPhone and public networking, there's a pretty excellent possibility I would have had category on that day.
Posted by: אבחון פסיכודידקטי | March 20, 2012 at 07:47 AM
Noelle - Amazing perspective! Seems easier to see it all from the context you are in. I think when we are in the middle of it all it can be more difficult to see and definitely because of the applause and cultural normalcy, harder to resist.
A thoughtful, prayerful approach is the goal with the higher value being personal and eternal. Thank you for your comments.
Posted by: Aaron Stern | October 26, 2011 at 02:43 PM
One more quick thought. Perhaps the ease of technology -- particularly social media outlets -- allows us to quickly post a thought or fleeting emotion without considering the weight of our words. I highly doubt most Christians believe that Steve Jobs changed people in an eternal, heart-transforming way. They simply posted their initial response to the emotion and shock of the moment, caught in the wave of public grief. But that impulsive act is exactly the point that your blog is making. Are we at risk of losing the thoughtfulness and weight of our words/journey by reducing it to sound bites posted in a flurry because we can always change our status or tweet in 5 minutes again if we would like?
Clearly I feel quite strongly about this issue. =)
Posted by: Noelle Goodlin | October 25, 2011 at 06:08 PM
Great blog, Aaron. Much appreciated on this side of the world! It was interesting to watch the West mourn Steve Job's passing while living in a country where 80-90% of the population has never used a computer or any piece of technology more profound than a cell phone.
I found myself most concerned by Christians who twittered thoughts about Steve Jobs changing the world for eternity or changing their lives in a powerful way. I appreciate the power of technology -- especially when I feel lonely or homesick for family and friends in America! However, eternal change comes from no man but from God and the work of the Holy Spirit. Steve Jobs and his brilliant talent influenced the world no doubt...and in many ways for the better. But it is God and God alone who works out eternity in each man's heart. The Bible clearly tells us He is the one who sets it there.
We are becoming so quick to idolize and sentimentalize human beings in the same light and framework as individuals who know no better but to worship created things. I sincerely hope and pray that we can become more honest in our faith about the tension of honoring an individual's contributions to the world we live in without placing on them the burden and worship of something more.
Posted by: Noelle Goodlin | October 25, 2011 at 06:03 PM
Joshua - Thanks for your comment. You make some good points and I think we would land in similar places. Technology is neutral...so how we use it is the key. It can be a wonderful resource, as it sound like it has been for you, and it can also wreak havoc in our lives.
My main point for writing the post was to have us think about technology and not take it in mindlessly. For instance, facebook has many wonderful benefits in regard to connecting people far away from one another but it can also give us a false sense of relationship and take us away from face-to-face, personal relationships.
What has our attention and affections and the fruit of it is the right question!
Posted by: Aaron Stern | October 24, 2011 at 05:19 PM
Hm... I don't know, Aaron. Yes, the humanity aspect is always an important consideration. Technologies are neutral; it through the ways we use them that symbolic meaning is derived and they come to be 'good' or 'bad.'
Still, I have to push back from this. These are good questions to consider, but they infer a decline, as if the human condition is not improving, but getting worse.
Could God use Steve Jobs to build his Kingdom, even though Steve Jobs was a Zen Buddhist? Could God have influenced the explosion of the Technological Revolution? Of Facebook? The iPhone? On-line dating?
I understand the idea of a false sense of growth, improvement. "At least browsing facebook is better than sitting in front of the tube, watching Road Rules." And yet, isn't it true? People are more connected, are they not?
Perhaps I haven't processed this enough to articulate the source of my resistance. Maybe part of it comes from the depth of my gratitude to Steve Jobs and to the technological advancements of the last eight years or so. I'm in grad school at a great school (DU) now, and for a guy with a learning disability who barely graduated high school (2000), that's quite the landmark achievement. Without the assistive technologies that have developed in response to things like the iPhone and social media, there's a good chance I wouldn't have had class on Wednesday. I might not have met my lovely girlfriend.
Rather than measuring Steve Jobs' contributions to the world by the cost of using the devices his legacy has left, perhaps we could take notice of the way people have simply shift their idolic foci. How much time are we devoting to these systems and devices? And what is the fruit? Where did we borrow that time from? And what was the fruit from that?
I for one, spend a lot more time online, in social media, and practically attached to my iPhone than I ever have before. And yet, I'm far better connected with friends and family, I'm more productive, and I'm growing in my walk with Jesus.
Posted by: Joshua Dembicki | October 14, 2011 at 04:10 PM