Quotes and ideas that stood out to me from the book:
From the Garden to the City
By John Dyer
P 33
The first story tells how humans shape the world using
tools. This larger story begins with the
smaller stories we tell ourselves when we see a new tool. As we imagine ourselves using it, we see in
our mind’s eye all the great new things we can accomplish with the device. Whether we come across a faster computer, an
egg white separator, or a space shuttle, our minds attempt to understand the
tool by imagining what it would be like to use it.
The mind of a child
envisions a world of adventure and purpose while the mind of an adult longs for
a world of comfort, ease and power.
P 36 We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.
The moral purpose of digging does not change the way that
the act of using a shovel transforms a person.
P 38
Those who have
developed the ability to consume complex arguments in books tend to feel
overwhelmed by the rush of data online, while those who do most of their
reading online and on small mobile screens tend to lose concentration when they
attempt to focus on a single idea for long periods of time.
The effect of
technology on the brain and body happen irrespective of the content. Of course, the content we consume is
important, but often we focus so much on the content that we miss the
importance of the medium through which we consume it. In fact, sometimes the effects of a medium
are more important than any content transmitted through that medium.
P39
Just as a builder accesses dirt through the medium of the
shovel, we access the minds of others through our various communication
mediums. Builders don’t have direct
access to dirt, and you and I don’t have direct access to one another.
P45
This means that our job, and the essence of what it is to be
human, is to reflect God’s image to the rest of creation.
First, humans display God’s ability to think
rationally…Secondly, many thinkers have noticed the plural language referring
to God (“let us”) and proposed that humans reflect God’s relationality…Thirdly,
just as God is the ruler over the entire universe and all created things, his
image-bearers are to rule over this tiny little planet.
P46
If the fish were
programmed to swim and the birds were programmed to fly, then humans were
programmed to cultivate the garden.
This tells us something important about both human nature
and the garden. It means that God
designed the garden- even before the fall, sin and death- in such a way that it
needed to be worked on. It’s not that
there was anything wrong with the garden, it’s just that God didn’t intend for
it to stay the way that it was. Instead,
God wanted Adam to “cultivate” or “till” or “work” what he found in the garden
and make something new out of it. God
created the garden not as an end point but as a starting point…In a sense, Adam
was to take the “natural” world (what God made) and fashion it into something
else- something not entirely “natural” – but sanctioned by God.
The final aspect of our role as
God’s image-bearers, then, is our ability to create. When we cultivate the garden, that is, when
we make things from what God has made, we are reflecting the image of God.
P77
In building his city, Cain was
obviously doing technology. He was using
tools to transform God’s creation for practical ends, and like his parents, he
fulfilled his role as an image-bearer while at the same time living in
rebellion against God…When Jesus addressed people, he offered blessings to some
and curses to others, but when he mentioned cities, it was always in the
context of judgment.
This is in part because the city
is humankind’s first idol, the first attempt to use our creative powers to
dislodge God from his place of preeminence and his rightful status as a
sustainer of life. We use our idols
fundamentally as a way of meeting our needs apart from God, and this is our
greatest temptation with technology- to use it as a substitute for God.
The fifth-century theologian
Augustine wrote that all sin is an “incurvature of the soul” or a turning
inward toward the self. Technology, for all its good, often amplifies
and augments this inward turn…We also use our idols, especially our
technological ones, as a means of distraction. When we find something that offers us
temporary relief from the curse of sin, instead of allowing its shortcomings to
make us long for our Savior, we allow technology to distract us from our
obvious need of a savior.
P95
The result [of owning a mobile
phone] is that as long as there are phones in our pockets, we are constantly
connected to millions of other people who might call at any moment. Whoever we might happen to be with at the
moment is just one of billions of people to whom we could be talking.
We bought our phones because we
valued solving one problem (safety) without realizing that the phone also
brings with it the value of constant connection. Then when we go for coffee with another
person with our cell phone on, we are inadvertently agreeing to the value
system issued by our cell; phones, and this includes a value statement about
the person in front of us. We are saying
that we value not just his our her company but also the company of anyone else
who might call.
P96
Our task as believers is to work
against the tendencies built into our devices, and to in effect because a
predator of the media in the ecosystem of our lives. Being a good predator means knowing one’s
prey well, and the more powerful the prey, the more careful we must be with
it…Christians who live God-honoring lives in the digital world are those who
can discern the tendencies built into all technology and then decide when those
tendencies are in line with godly values, and when those tendencies are
damaging to the soul. When we are aware
of the tendencies and values inherent in our technology, we have the best
chance of avoiding the negative trade-offs it brings and instead using the
technology to serve God.
P119
In general, more advanced
communication technology requires fewer steps and, therefore, there are fewer
social conventions required for its use.
When there are more built-in social conventions around using a medium,
we tend to treat it more formally and what we communicate tends to be more
significant (as in writing a letter). Conversely,
when a newer technology removes the need for these social conventions, it also
removes the sense of formality (as in a text message)…Newer mediums remove
formality and make things easier…
P128
When we read a printed book, we
often forget that we are spending a lot of our mental energy converting letters
into words, and then forming these words into sentences, concepts and
ideas. This is a skill that we learn in
school and perfect with years of practice.
But when we look at a picture, no translation is necessary. We are born with all the tools we need to
understand images…When we see words, they cause us to think; but when we see a
picture, we react first and then think about our reaction afterward.
P140
Throughout the epistles, Paul,
Peter and John express their deep desire to be physically present with those to
whom they wrote. Often, the apostle
writers connect “joy” and “fullness” to being physically present, and they
report sadness and longing when they must resort to communication tools like
writing. And yet, as we see in John’s
epistles, they still sued communication tools when embodied encounters were not
possible and when the use of those tools could build up the body of
Christ. However, their intention was to
honor the incarnation of Christ by always holding physical presence as the
highest and best medium.
P141
Though a mobile phone is not
itself morally evil, it cannot be considered “neutral” either. Instead, embedded in its design is a tendency
of usage from which a set of values emerge.
Our flesh will often seize upon the power and value system of a tool and
use it for evil.
P143
Carefully considering the
trade-offs and problems of technology should urge us to create and use tools
that fit within God’s command to both “cultivate” and “keep” the garden. And if we are not in a position of creating
such tools, we need to spend time thinking about the value systems that emerge
from using a tool; we must discern when those tools are in conflict with the
value system of the kingdom of God. Just as the promise of resurrection does
not imply that we are free to neglect our souls and bodies, the promise to
restore our tools does not give us license to create or use tools that abuse
God’s creation and distort that kind of life he has commanded us to live.
P150
Then, around the turn of the
twentieth century, things started to shift in as unforeseen direction. The factories were becoming so efficient at
producing goods that they began making more goods than people previously
needed. Today, the idea that a factory
might produce something no one wants to buy is rather ordinary, but in the
history of humanity, this had never happened before….It’s that “feel happy”
part that advertisers had to tap into to urge people to buy things that go
above basic necessities.
P154
This cycle of progressive
improvement and altered expectations has led to what we now call consumerism
and materialism. Nothing is ever good
enough, and we find ourselves continually distracted from our deeper spiritual
needs that no tool can solve.
P155
Our tools allow us to control
nearly all of the natural cycles of life.
And yet, all this control hasn’t
necessarily resulted in more happiness for those who wield it.
P156
The device [air conditioner] had
hidden the process of cooling that used to take place outside, and the result
was that the space where people use to commune became obsolete. Over time, people spent more time indoors,
neighbors became strangers.
Again, the point is not that fast
food is inherently bad (although that might be true); the point is that, in
compressing these human practice down into a commodity available at the press
of a button, the space for human connection and depth is often lost. Imagine if the resurrected Jesus handed Peter
a Big Mac and said, “You’re all good.
Get to it, buddy.”
Borgmann, though does not think
the proper response to the device paradigm is to turn off our heaters or throw
out our microwaves. Instead, he
recommends that we take time to intentionally establish that he called “focal things and practices.” There are things that might normally be
hidden or made unnecessary by a device, but that we choose to do anyway because
of the kind of life we value.
Instead of living our lives
according to the values of new technology, Borgmann urges us to determine what
our values are first and attempt to use our tools in service of those values.
P160
If the internet is a technology,
then we should assume that it will present us with powerful new ways to shape
the world, but that same power will also shape us and the way we see the
world. If used without reflection, that
shaping will eventually make its way into our souls, influencing how we see
ourselves and others and what we think is important. Many of these effects will be rather
innocuous, but we should never underestimate the capacity of our flesh to find
ways to use technology for self-serving ends and as a means of distraction from
our need for a savior and his Body, the Christian community.
P163
A…downside to Internet information
is that with equal access to all of the world’s information, we tend to
cultivate the skill of searching for and accessing information rather than
acquiring information, committing it to memory and allowing it to shape our
minds and hearts.
Moreover, when we spend all of our
time scanning and accessing information, we often find ourselves suffering from
“information overload.” But this is not
just a feeling we have about too much data.
Scientists at Temple University have shown that when we surround
ourselves with many different pieces of information, our prefrontal cortex (the
part of our brain that makes decisions) simply shuts off. Information is often helpful in making good
decisions, but “with too much information people’s decisions make less and less
sense.”
P164
We seem to cultivate either the skill of deep reading or the skill of
scanning. It’s possible to do both, but
it is difficult to maintain both abilities.
P165
This brings us to the reasons why
access, speed, and interruption are important for Christians. A good portion of the Christian life requires
the ability to concentrate and focus on ideas over long periods of time. Spiritual depth requires the ability to pray
for more than a few minutes, to read and memorize Scripture (not search for it
online), and to love God with our hearts and our minds. This
means that we must be careful to cultivate and retain the skill of deeply
reading and deeply contemplating the things of God, something the Internet and
digital technologies do not value. We
cannot read deeply when we spend all of our time scanning or when we allow distraction
to rule our minds.
The values of information access,
speed and interruptions are not themselves morally wrong, but in a sinful world
our tendency is toward complication,
distraction, and chaos rather than simplicity, contemplation, and order. We have to work against these tendencies in
order to maintain balance between the natural and unnatural in our lives.
P166
For those of us who want to
cultivate a deep, spiritual life, we will have to be more selective in our
information consumption and the media through which we consume it.
P168
[Re: social media] In order to
achieve ambient intimacy, friends need to continually post things about
themselves- what they are thinking, feeling and doing-for their friends to read
about. To maintain this pattern, we have
to regularly think about what we’re thinking, feeling and doing and then decide
which of those things to communicate. In
other words, when we do community online, we have to think about ourselves much
more than when we do community offline.
P172
The great temptation of the
digital generation is to inadvertently disagree with John [about using
technology, in his case, writing] and assume that online presence offers the
same kind of “complete joy” as offline presence. Our problem is not that technologically
mediated relationships are unreal, nor is the problem that all online
communication is self-focused and narcissistic.
Rather, the danger is that just like the abundance of food causes us to
mistake sweet food for nourishing food, and just like the abundance of information
can drown out deep thinking, the
abundance of virtual connection can drown out the kind of life-giving,
table-oriented life that Jesus cultivated among his disciples. Social media follows the device paradigm in
that in masks the long, sometimes arduous process of friendship and makes it
available at the press of a button.
A second great temptation for those
of us who desire embodied life is that mobile technology allows us to coexist
in both the online and offline worlds at the same time. As we commune with friends and family and
share meals together, the online world is always close at hand with statistics,
numbers, and interaction. The people in
front of us might be sick, moody, unfriendly, or in need of a diaper
change. But there is no “unfriend” or
“unparent” button for those difficult situations, and this makes it all the
more tempting to sneak away to a world of constant interaction and
adulation. The people on our phones are
beautiful and interesting, and we can ignore them when they are not. However, the world in our pockets doesn’t
give out rewards for faithfulness and long-suffering, only for the
moment-by-moment interactions it requires, urging us to return and return again
for a fleeting feeling of connection.
P173
Technology…should all be directed toward enriching the few, precious
face-to-face encounters we have in our busy world.
P174
I don’t like the person I become
when I spend all my time online any more than the person I become when I spend
all of my time eating McDonald’s food.
Instead, I know that it is often the difficult things-eating healthy
food and exercising, reading books for long periods, praying deeply, and
spending quality time with my family and friends- that God uses to mold and
shape us into the image of his Son.
Rather than be shaped by technology, I try to understand how each new
technology can shape me and then decide if that coincides with that kind of
person I think God would have me be.
P176
Valuation- we must begin by
continually returning to the Scriptures to find our Christian values and
identity…After going through this evaluation process, we can ask where our
Christian values and the values of technology might be in conflict, and what
aspects of the tool our flesh will be tempted to use in ways that do not honor
God.
Experimentation
Limitation- once we understand the
patterns of usage of a technology, the next step is to see what happens when we
put boundaries on it. If we become
convinced that spending too much time on social media sites invites narcissism
and that reading online limits deep thinking, then a disciplined set of limits is necessary. It is here that the desires of the flesh
often emerge most strongly. A person who
checks his or her mobile phone regularly throughout the day may find it
extremely difficult to curtail this pattern.
Because of this difficulty, incorporating a “technology fast” into one’s
diet can be particularly helpful…choosing to abstain for several days from the
tools that impact us most powerfully can help weaken their control…My goal is
not simply to limit my technology usage but to open up space to live the kind of life that Christ modeled for us. When I feel the urge to go outside of these
boundaries, I have to ask myself if I’m doing so out of my Christian values and
identity, or if I’m being pulled into the value of system of technology.
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