TECH AGNOSTIC

We live in the church of the Wi-Fi connection, avows this interesting investigation.

The ubiquity of the screen, the pervasiveness of the net, the omnipresent power of the tech corporations: these are the elements that drive our civilization, according to Harvard/MIT “humanist chaplain” Epstein. Technology has become a modern religion, reaching into every corner of our lives. Epstein touched on some of these ideas in his 2010 bestseller Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe, but here he focuses on the psychological impact of computer tech on our society. Many people are willing to put their faith in technology as a means of solving all problems, and social media groups are starting to look like religious congregations, he states. The founders of the tech behemoths seem to see themselves as the saviors of humanity because they offer digital connectivity and vast stores of information. The experts who know how to create, manipulate, and spread the technology have become a priestly caste, armed with secret rituals, impenetrable language, and disdain for the masses below them. These ideas are interesting but, in the end, Epstein’s case is not really persuasive. Many of the connections he makes in this book are tenuous, and some of the detours he takes are distracting rather than illustrative. However, his call for putting the screens aside to build true contact is welcome. “We can create a reformation—in our technology, but more importantly, in our common humanity—that might just flower into a renaissance,” he concludes. “May it be so.”

A wide-ranging, provocative, and energetic deep dive into the role that technology plays in our lives.