Back in 1989, the February issue of now-defunct LIFE magazine was devoted to “The Future and You.” The cover trumpeted “A 30-page preview: 2000 and beyond,” but what we mainly got was a proud preview — you guessed it — of our technological development.
Readers were treated to a grand display of technical expertise, including genetic engineering, “the replaceable you” (artificial body parts), more and ‘better’ laboratory-engineered foods, “smart houses,” self-driving cars, large-screen holographic TVs, portable phones “the size of a tie clip,” “electronic license plates that can be read by satellite,” armies of robot warriors, super-high-tech weapons systems, and MANY other “wonders” of technological progress. (While many of these predictions came true, some clearly did not.)
How impressive and encouraging it was — from the point of view of our outer-directed and out-of-touch “separate” selves. But from the point of view of our true relational selves, the inner response to all these glittering images and seeming “accomplishments” was more likely “Oh no, dammit, here’s more of that delusional drivel again… how utterly idiotic and boring… YAWN!”
In fairness, the featured articles ALSO discussed (minimally) ongoing problems like pollution, overpopulation, and the world arms trade, yet the overriding impression we were intentionally left with — befitting our deep-seated belief in technological salvation — was of worshipful delight in our technical wizardry. Technology rules — and will save the day!
Distasteful as all this is, to me, a far deeper source of concern is that this entire “preview” of our future never even mentioned our inner worlds, improving human communication skills, or transforming our ability to relate to each other. Human progress was defined only in terms of externals, and technology holds the keys to the kingdom. All the keys.
. . .
Fast forward a decade or four — and the pattern hasn’t changed much. Throughout mainstream media, this pattern gets repeated, over and over, like a demented din of false hope. It shows up in almost every popular periodical, newspaper, and news magazine — and on the radio, TV, podcasts, and the Internet.
The most recent iteration, of course, is the unending hoopla and wild “hopium” surrounding AI. All across the globe, nations and technology companies are in a so-called AI “arms race,” and massive electricity-and-water-guzzling data centers are springing up everywhere. Wow, gee whiz, light-speed AI will save us — for sure!
Not everyone is on board with this crapola, especially ecologists and so-called “doomers.” But overall, the vast majority of humanity still buys into this ongoing delusion/con game.
Why technological salvation is a “con game”
Why do I call technological salvation a “con game”? It’s simple: it isn’t true, it doesn’t work, and it enriches billionaire “tech bros” and CEOs while the rest of us struggle to get by. It enslaves us and warps our minds. It’s truly one of the greatest con games in history.
It’s also the ultimate in human hubris. It’s the quintessential expression of our attempt to play God in “our” world, the remodeled world WE are designing… and supposedly controlling. Our belief in technological salvation is so potent and pervasive that challenging it is quite difficult, and is often viewed as irrational or even “unpatriotic.”
Of course, this blind, unreasoning embrace of technology-as-salvation is, itself, the best reason for challenging it… but instead, we continue to charge ahead, developing new, ’better’ technologies at an ever-accelerating pace. The great eco-economist E.F. Schumacher referred to this manic proliferation as “the forward stampede.”
At the same time, paradoxically, we know in our hearts that our beloved “paradise project” isn’t working out as planned. Yet despite this loss of faith, over the last few decades we have REDOUBLED our efforts to secure our salvation through technological development. (This pattern reminds me of Mr. Trump, who always doubles down on objectionable behaviors and unworkable attitudes/plans.)
Considering our tenuous and dangerous global circumstances, such a redoubling is the most damaging thing we can do, on practically every level. It is presented as completely rational, but would be better described as “fanatical.”
What we’re doing is this: Instead of grieving the devastating loss of our centuries-old vision of unlimited outer progress, we are creating more and more technological wonders/devices to “numb out” with and hide behind. Smart phone addiction, anyone?
Fanaticism, denial, and more denial
Instead of releasing the desperate dream of scientifically-engineered glory and moving on into a healthier and saner future, we are busily denying our grief and fear. We are even denying that the human “paradise project” is deeply flawed and unworkable; we still cling to the absurd hope that science and technology will magically save the day.
“What failure? What loss?”, we ask incredulously. “We’re making amazing scientific advances; new discoveries are being made daily; surely the (technological) solutions we need are right around the corner…”
This reaction is quite destructive, both ecologically and emotionally. It is the product of addiction-distorted thinking, the illusion of control and endless OUTER “progress,” and our lack of an inspiring vision for the future — one that is really an improvement. While it’s true that we are making many wonderful scientific advances, it is utterly unrealistic to expect them to somehow save us from our fear and suffering and loneliness, and to finally usher in our longed-for “heaven on earth.”
Our actions and attitudes seem to be saying, “The paradise project is our only chance of saving ourselves. We MUST believe in salvation through technology — it’s the only hope we’ve got, now that we’ve separated ourselves from our Source. WE MUST SUCCEED… but — horror of horrors! — we seem to be failing.
But wait… no, NO! That can’t be right… we must be in control, we MUST!”
(Now our fanaticism and old pal “denial” shift into high gear.)
“Of course! The solution is clear! We just haven’t tried hard enough yet to make it work! There’s nothing lacking in our vision or our plans; we need to focus EVEN MORE on achieving technological salvation. What could be more obvious?!”
My reply: What could be more delusional? The ignorance, arrogance, and human pain expressed in this delusion fill me with deep sadness — and horror.
What about human relationships and communication?
Our belief in technological salvation may seem positive and life-affirming, but it is threatening our survival and the life systems of the planet. I am not anti-technology, by any means — I drive a car, watch TV, use a cell phone (not a smart phone!), and am writing this on a computer — but I believe and know that human RELATIONSHIPS and COMMUNICATION are much more vital to our evolutionary process and our survival.
It is our exclusive, manic/maniacal focus on technological salvation that is so dangerous. What alarms me greatly is that our over-reliance on technology seems to INCREASE our sense of shame and isolation, and causes us to pull inward, away from direct interaction with life — and other people. (Example: Today, most people choose indirect, “safe” texting rather than direct conversation.) Instead of augmenting our sense of self-worth, it diminishes both our self-reliance AND our inter-relating skills.
Our over-reliance on technology actually replaces self-reliance and cooperative efforts — which undermines our social selves and sense of community. And this replacement process is a major factor underlying our sociopolitical “stuckness” (along with our hyper-individualism, loneliness, and addiction to comfort, convenience, frantic consumption, and passive entertainment).
Four illusory beliefs underlying our worship of technology
We are so enmeshed in our worship of technology, and so conditioned to believe in the eventual accomplishment of technological salvation, that we are almost blind to the REAL negative effects we are creating — NOW, not in some distant future — within and around us. The time has come to unmask the appealing, arrogant illusions with which technology-worship clouds our minds and hearts. At its dread-filled core lie the following beliefs, distilled down to their essence:
1) We WILL NOT be dependent on God, nature, other people, or even our true inner selves. We must be INDEPENDENT.
This belief embodies, and continually recreates, a massive psycho-social web of arrogance, fear, and pain. It is based on total, universal denial of inter-dependency and relatedness to life. It is free will run riot, “civilized” counter-dependence and separateness carried to its “logical” (insane) conclusion. Such a belief is profoundly and fundamentally unrealistic, antisocial, and anti-life.
2) We can only overcome the terror of our separateness, our fear-filled “independence,” by surrounding and enclosing ourselves in a human-made Reality — a technological womb — which helps us shut out and FORGET that ‘other,’ natural reality we have denied.
Our desire to replace the reality of nature with our own creations is based on fear and shame, and it constantly replicates both. Our zealous belief in the saving power of technology is like a vast wall between us and the rest of creation, and our technical achievements continually reinforce our self-created barriers. We are virtually IN HIDING from reality; we exist in a state of withdrawal from life, hidden behind the ‘safety’ and ‘comfort’ of our own creations. And of course, this “hiding” process is an outward reflection of how we hide behind and continually reinforce our false selves.
3) We must aspire to and ACHIEVE total control over our bodies and our environment; only then will we truly feel safe and secure. We must commit ALL our mental, emotional, and material resources to this task, via ever-increasing technological and economic development.
Here, in a nutshell, is the reason for our LACK of emphasis on the INNER quality of our lives and our relationships, and the quality of our relationship to nature as well. We learn to focus our attention outward in reaction to fear — via the famed ‘fight or flight’ response — and to try to maintain control, NOT in order to truly relate to nature or other people.
Even our frenzied outward focus is thus “outward” only in a severely limited and limiting way, since we value only the products and protection of the human-made world! The ‘otherness’ of the outer world of nature scares us, and we want to kill and control ‘it’ rather than be in relationship with the world around us — which intensifies our feelings of separateness and leads us to focus obsessively on external control and manipulation. Since nothing we DO can ever make us feel whole and safe, however, we are always running scared — which leads us to try to control and manipulate everything even more.
Unfortunately, this translates into ever-increasing development and consumption — out-of-control “growth” — which is analogous to cancer in the human body. Uncontrolled growth of cells within our bodies will eventually kill us — and the explosive growth of human population, development, consumption, and pollution is like a spreading cancer on the body of the Earth. (Here we see the terrifying paradox of our addiction to control: our escalating attempts at control are spinning OUT OF CONTROL, and are producing escalating worldwide results that are OUT OF CONTROL.)
4) If we become ever more adept at technological manipulation of reality, and of life itself, we will eventually be just like ‘God’ in our powers — and then nothing will be able to stop us or hurt us, not even God.
In a sense, our substitute reality is designed to comfort and protect the wounded children living inside us, who were often stopped or hurt by others. In our dimly felt separateness and pain, we are driven to seek safety through unlimited power — but what we’ve been doing simply doesn’t work. There is no way that we can succeed in being “God,” because we don’t actually create ANYTHING except ideas — if we create even our ideas! (We somehow receive them from somewhere, and that’s really all we know about the creative process — as creative geniuses will readily admit!)
All we do when we “create” outwardly — even through genetic engineering — is to mold and manipulate pre-existing materials or life forms. We do NOT create matter or life, and we don’t have the slightest idea how they ARE created — though we have become very adept at manipulating and destroying life! Yet our belief in technological salvation is so strong, so addictive, that we still “come up fighting” and insist that we will learn how to create and control matter (and life itself!) if we just KEEP TRYING.
What we really want and need
What we fail to recognize, over and over again, is that all our “trying to be God,” all our desperate over-reaching, MEANS NOTHING to our true selves or the wounded, heart-sick children inside us. All they really want is to be loved and nurtured by US — to be listened to, loved, healed, and honored, not shamed, ignored, and suppressed.
But instead, we run from them in blind terror, and devise more and more gee-whiz machines/devices to appease or distract them.
What they (we) need, though, is our ongoing attention and LOVE, and all our things and products and inventions will not, and cannot, satisfy them. Our longed-for “technological salvation” is really a technological escape from the truth of who we are: the wounded child and the true self, the being “made in the image of God,” experiencing our RELATIONSHIP to the wondrous creation all around us and within us.
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This post was previously published on Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs.
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