Loss of Transcendence - Lesson 25
Technique in the Modern World (Part 2)
In this lesson, you will delve into the implications of technique on modern society, exploring the loss of transcendence, fragmentation of society, and dehumanization. You will examine the challenges posed by technique, such as its impact on human relationships, loss of privacy, and control of information. Finally, you will learn how to respond to these challenges by developing a biblical perspective, reclaiming transcendence, and strengthening human connections.
Technique in the Modern World (Part 2)
TH730-25: Technique and the Modern World - Part 2
I. Introduction to the Technique in the Modern World
A. Recap of Part 1
B. Overview of Part 2
II. Implications of Technique on Society
A. Loss of Transcendence
B. Fragmentation of Society
C. Dehumanization
III. Challenges Posed by Technique
A. Impact on Human Relationships
B. Loss of Privacy
C. Control of Information
IV. Responding to the Challenges of Technique
A. Developing a Biblical Perspective
B. Reclaiming Transcendence
C. Strengthening Human Connections
Dr. James Houston
Loss of Transcendence
th730-25
Technique in the Modern World (Part 2)
Lesson Transcript
We have been saying that Ellul observes five things about [techne 00:00:05]. That it’s total in its comprehension; it’s universal in its globalisation; and now we’re going to see that it’s also automism and what we mean by automism is it’s self-directing. And this is the nature of what we mean by efficiency—that it’s self-directing. What’s the best way of doing it we say? And so personal choice is inhibited because of this technical imperative.
And we find that our manners and behaviour are profoundly affected by this. I remember that when my children were younger and we gave them, say, a graduation gift or something very special, we got a letter of thanks. You get no letters today. You get an email response, or not even an email response. You get a telephone call. And we’ve become very lazy in our social behaviour, all because of efficiency, because it cuts down on time. And this imperative of efficiency means that it reduces the relational quality of our life with other people.
And so technique has to progress relentlessly and values are relativised to efficiency. And so morals, tradition, faith, personal virtue, all these are secondary to technique. And, of course, we find the same thing with our churches, that everything is now put on the computer and the email. And sometimes we get very bogus letters. Dear James, I’ve been thinking about you this last week and I thought that this Biblical verse would be of personal interest to you, or perhaps to comfort you, so I’m sending it to you now. Who is it being sent to? 10,000 others. That’s what’s happening. And so we’ve become fraudulent about our relationships, even within the Christian world. And this letter, which actually was sent to 10,000 other people, was sent by somebody that was supposed to be an intimate friend of mine, but obviously he was a bogus friend. So we don’t realise the tyranny and the distortion of our moral behaviour that efficiency is producing these days with the computer.
Then lastly, there is the total comprehensiveness of everything so that we can never escape from this whole realm. And this is what Ellul considered to be the city of man. The city is the climax like the Tower of Babel was a climax of human existence. And so the urbanisation of the world that is reshaping our whole globe is the impact that technology is having demographically on the future of mankind. We truly see that the city of Cain is the city of the future. It’s all of a piece. So what do you do in living in the city? You compete. You achieve. You make money. Everything becomes increasingly more complex technically. The city is where you don’t talk about the cross or the Resurrection. It’s no place for those kind of things. The Gospel then becomes harder and harder to communicate in the city because it’s totally countercultural to what we’re facing.
[00:05:18]
Even in my own time, I love going into the countryside for a holiday. It’s not only a relaxation physically, it’s a profound relaxation emotionally and spiritually because I’m with country people. I’m back to peasant life. And I discover that if I want to know who is a real person, I won’t find him in the city. I’ll find him in the countryside. So when the poet in the 18th century Pope said that God made the country, but man made the town, he was dead right.
So that then is the solemn conclusion to this profoundly significant voice of Jacques Ellul. And one of the problems about publishing is it has its fashions. A book is written and then it’s supposed to be forgotten because there are other new books that have come to take its place. But one of the things that the Christian should always have in his consciousness is the importance of the classics, of the prophets who’ve spoken in the past and whose voice still speaks to us, whether it comes from people like Augustine in the 4th and early 5th century—a wonderful classic he is—or whether it comes from later classics, like John Bunyan, or whether it comes from a contemporary classic, like Ellul and Lewis. These books should never be forgotten. They should always remain in our consciousness.
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What then did Lewis write about in The Abolition of Man? The symbol is that the immediate threat is not the abolition of man, but the abolition that there are men without chests. And he means that being without a chest is living two dimensionally and not three dimensionally. It’s not that you just live in space and time, but that you live with space, time and God or, indeed, space, time and morals. And so really it’s simply to live an amoral life. And you begin to lose your emotional life when you live with amorality.
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