Human beings were designed to live in harmony with other people, and that means dwelling in communities of shared dependence. Yet the culture of the Machine perpetuates the myth of self-sufficiency. Today services, activities, and tasks that at one time required relationships and interconnectedness with people are now provided by machines. This technologically-dependent state of affairs not only offers the illusion that we don’t need each other, but often it implicitly nudges us to treat our most basic social needs as encumbrances to be overcome. At its most perverse, we begin approaching each other like apps on our phone, as a mere resource, or a means for satisfying desire, interacting with others from a posture of individuality and autonomy. In the time the scriptures were written, the temptation to autonomy and independence was unique to wealthy people, and is held out as a pitfall of wealth, perhaps the primary pitfall even more than mere greed and miserliness. But today, all of us are wealthy by historical standards, and thus we are all subject to the temptation to be autonomous, independent, and self-reliant. Often it takes machine-failure for us to realize how much we still need each other. In chapter 3 of my recent book Are We All Cyborgs Now? I tell a couple stories of communities that were drawn closer together through machine failure (one because of unintentional failure and the other intentional sabotage).
We don’t need to wait for our machines to break, nor do we need to go around smashing them like the Luddites. Rather, we can learn to leverage our machines toward human flourishing to enhance community and relationships. But that takes deliberate effort and intention. This is something Brian Donohue and I recently discussed on Kyle Whittington’s podcast.
Brian works with AI and is uniquely qualified to speak to both the dangers and the opportunities that come with emerging digital technologies. He was a consultant when Joshua Pauling and I were working on our recent book, and Brian offered feedback on a number of chapters. I have been very blessed by my conversations with Brian Donohue since moving to Virginia, and so delighted he was able to participate in this podcast. Listen here!