Thanks for this! I appreciated the AI summary of the podcast - an excellent use of AI!! I don't have time or patience sometimes to listen to an entire conversation so seeing the main points was excellent!
I grew up with computer games and still use it as a escape/reset mechanism. But my husband and I are careful to delete any games that leave us feeling worse afterwards. Some games are clearly so addictive to me, that I have to limit my time or just say farewell to them.
The tendency of modern games to fill with time sinks and obvious distractions to keep you "engaged" really drives me nuts. Short and sweet Indie games are the best source of good games I reckon
Hello! I was wondering if you could clarify for me what do you mean when you say that "all technology is good". How does that fit with law 4 —"Technology should not be made to be deceptive, immoral, nor ugly"? If a specific technology is purposely made to, for instance, be addictive, is it good?
I wrote something awhile ago which unpacks the combination of technology being good and cursed. It's a bit long for a comment, but it gives a bit more detail about why I think technology is still good.
In short, because of the cultural mandate and the goodness of creation, everything that exists has some "good" in it. To be sure, a silly game that is made to addict you has many things in it that are not good. Pornography has more. But in both there is something good. Whether it be joy or sex or any other thing that would have been found in the garden of Eden... there is some good in every technology. That doesn't mean you should use every technology. But it does mean it's good to reflect and see the good in every technology. It's more thoughtful and it allows you to reflect more deeply on God's purposes.
Anyways... here's the longer answer!
Can you imagine what it would be like to hear the first chapter of the Bible for the very first time? It's an epic narrative. No one innovates quite like God. He looks at the ground, and all the latent potentiality of the lithium and silicon within it, and he calls it "good."
We don't hear about humanity until many lines later, on the sixth day. Far from a minimum viable product, Adam and Eve are made in His image, created by their Creator, and given the task of creating. Very good!
So God created mankind in his own image... God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." - Genesis 1:27-28
This has been called the cultural mandate. Why? Because of the tasks given. To "increase in number" is relatively straightforward once you’re figured out where babies come from. And "fill the earth" includes both procreation and cultivation of the land. In short, it’s the task of making culture.
Andy Crouch has argued that the core of culture is not the ideas we believe but the things we make; the artifacts, the systems, the tech. We see this again in Genesis 2:15; the task given to Adam was to "work and keep" God's beautiful garden. And in this task, we mustn't forget the seventh day! The cultural mandate includes a rhythm of God-focused rest and recreation.
Procreation. Cultivation. And recreation. That's the cultural mandate. Can you imagine receiving that job offer? Would you accept it? It’s worth reflecting on.
Given this, we can confidently say that technology, which is the manipulation of material for human flourishing, is good; it reflects God’s creativity and was part of the original cultural mandate.
But this isn’t the full standard by which we evaluate technology because the story doesn’t stop there. Adam failed to live up to the requirements of his job description. He and his wife rebelled, believing the serpent's lie that it was through their methods that they could "be like God," (Gen. 3:5).
Instead of choosing God's way of imagining the Creator, they chose the serpent's. It is good to be like God if we must choose the right model and the right method. Adam and Eve did not. For us today, we must model God like Jesus did, and trust, rather than question, God’s revealed instruction.
Technology Is Cursed
The history of humanity is the history of curse. Each person is under it unless they find the cure. Akin to the worst form of slavery, this spell cannot be easily undone. It shows itself in addiction to scrolling, habits of laziness, and screen-seduced spiritual depression. The central problem of technology is its cursedness, the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit, which all started after Adam's sin.
Genesis 3:17 describes God's response to Adam and Eve’s rebellion. He says, "Cursed is the ground because of you." Remember the latent potentiality placed in the garden by God for humanity to cultivate and fill the earth with? The silicon and lithium? Well, now it's cursed. According to Scripture, "it will produce thorns and thistles for you."
How do we see the thorns and thistles today? We can learn through modern writers, like Chris Martin and Samuel James, and older thinkers like Marshall McLuhan and Jacques Ellul, and we will draw on them in this book.
One of the most prominent technology critics of the late 1900s, Neil Postman, describes the curse of technology as a kind of "technocracy." The very thing we were made to rule over has come to rule us (instead of democracy we have a technocracy, says Postman). Too many of us, unfortunately, see technological progress as the answer to all life's problems. Riffing on Postman, we might say that the allure of newer and better penicillin has replaced prayer, digital distraction has replaced discipline, and psychotherapy and technology-mediated self-help have replaced repentance of sin and imitation of Jesus.
Technology adds and subtracts. It is always taking something from you even while giving something to you. Consider a car. It gives you efficient travel that is both comfortable and convenient. But choosing to drive to work instead of walking will also take things away such as the benefits of exercise, the opportunity to see and interact with other human beings, and the joy and groundedness present in the cool wind and warm sunshine along the way.
When we evaluate technology, we must not simply assess the benefits and the financial price, but the benefits and the burdens; the ways the technology adds and subtracts, the way it reflects God's good creativity, and the ways it brings forth the curse.
Technology Is Good And Cursed
Before launching our podcast, Joel and I first practiced a podcast episode by discussing Melvin Kranzberg's Six Laws of Technology, first published in the 1960s. It was episode zero, so to speak. The recording has been lost forever, but it was a good practice reflecting on one of the most important lists of “technology laws” ever written.
While not a Christian account of technology, there is a lot of wisdom in Kranzberg's laws. His first law is this: Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral. The point of this phrase is to demonstrate the complexity of technology, especially in the way technology changes things (more on the tech-changes-you principle in me next post).
I agree with Kranzberg's law in the sense that technology is neither solely good nor is it solely bad. But to say it's not good, without qualification, just isn't biblical. Remember the word that God used to describe his creation? Good. And the cultural mandate, because of its origin in God's design for us, is good.
We believe it is helpful to think of technology as something that has the potential – when done well – to resemble Adam's original task and be like our Creator. While it's true that the ground is cursed and man's actions are now tainted by sin, we mustn't give up on the call on our lives.
So, sorry Kranzberg. We'll have to agree to disagree. Technology is good, even while it’s simultaneously cursed. Every technology has a mixture of both. Just as the image of God is still present in each human being today, despite the sin in each one of us through original sin, so too, the goodness of technology remains today despite its cursedness.
Thank you for your detailed response! I see what you say and I agree with a lot of it.
If I understand you correctly, by “all technology is good”, you mean that all technology has some good in it because it ultimately comes from a good God who created everything and calls it good. I’d focus more on tech as a human endeavour (with God as the source and commander, as seen in the cultural mandate), but the same point stands: we’re made in the image of God and we’re broken, so everything we do will have some good and some bad in it.
I agree keeping this in mind can be helpful to gain insight on, for example, why people are so drawn to a technology that is harmful. For example, porn or addictive social media tap on good human desires and twist them for profit.
But I still wouldn’t say “all technology is good”… I could say “all technology has some good in it", but I don’t think that is the same thing as something being good.
After all, we humans have some good in us (the image of God and God calling us very good after creating us) and at the same time “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). In one sense we’re good because we were made by a good God, in His image; in other sense (a very important sense) we’re not good because we have a sinful nature. Something is good when it fulfills the purpose it was created for. Instead of missing the mark, it hits the target.
Saying “all technology is good” is sort of like saying “all humans are good.” I’d respond with a “On some sense yes… but also no. And please pay a lot of attention to the no”. When most people ask about “tech being good” they are asking “should I use it or avoid it?”. Most people are not thinking about the nature of tech nor thinking about if it’s hitting the target for its creators (oh, it is! It’s really good at making money) but, hopefully, they’re mostly thinking about if it’s helping THEM hit the target (at least this is —or should be— the concern of Christians). Is it making me love God and others better? Is it helping me to make creation flourish? Is it good?
Thank you for helping me continue to think about these things!
Yes a lot depends on how we define good. Though I like to always say “good and cursed.” Part of it is just a short phrase to get people to see the good if they are tech pessimists and the bad/curse if they are optimists.
John Dyer’s From the Garden to the City as well as Tony Reinke’s book on technology go into more detail on the goodness of technology.
There’s a deeper theological question about the relationship between existence and goodness. Augustine speaks of this. Evil is just the depreciation of the good.
And there are degrees of goodness. Humanity is worth more than any technology.
But yeah. I think we mostly agree here but you can adapt the language to suit your perspective and audience
Thanks for this, Andrew. My kids are still pretty young (9 and under) and we haven't had tons of technology exposure for them. But I'm very aware that it's right around the corner, so this was a helpful framework.
Thanks for this! I appreciated the AI summary of the podcast - an excellent use of AI!! I don't have time or patience sometimes to listen to an entire conversation so seeing the main points was excellent!
I grew up with computer games and still use it as a escape/reset mechanism. But my husband and I are careful to delete any games that leave us feeling worse afterwards. Some games are clearly so addictive to me, that I have to limit my time or just say farewell to them.
The tendency of modern games to fill with time sinks and obvious distractions to keep you "engaged" really drives me nuts. Short and sweet Indie games are the best source of good games I reckon
Hello! I was wondering if you could clarify for me what do you mean when you say that "all technology is good". How does that fit with law 4 —"Technology should not be made to be deceptive, immoral, nor ugly"? If a specific technology is purposely made to, for instance, be addictive, is it good?
Excellent question.
I wrote something awhile ago which unpacks the combination of technology being good and cursed. It's a bit long for a comment, but it gives a bit more detail about why I think technology is still good.
In short, because of the cultural mandate and the goodness of creation, everything that exists has some "good" in it. To be sure, a silly game that is made to addict you has many things in it that are not good. Pornography has more. But in both there is something good. Whether it be joy or sex or any other thing that would have been found in the garden of Eden... there is some good in every technology. That doesn't mean you should use every technology. But it does mean it's good to reflect and see the good in every technology. It's more thoughtful and it allows you to reflect more deeply on God's purposes.
Anyways... here's the longer answer!
Can you imagine what it would be like to hear the first chapter of the Bible for the very first time? It's an epic narrative. No one innovates quite like God. He looks at the ground, and all the latent potentiality of the lithium and silicon within it, and he calls it "good."
We don't hear about humanity until many lines later, on the sixth day. Far from a minimum viable product, Adam and Eve are made in His image, created by their Creator, and given the task of creating. Very good!
So God created mankind in his own image... God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." - Genesis 1:27-28
This has been called the cultural mandate. Why? Because of the tasks given. To "increase in number" is relatively straightforward once you’re figured out where babies come from. And "fill the earth" includes both procreation and cultivation of the land. In short, it’s the task of making culture.
Andy Crouch has argued that the core of culture is not the ideas we believe but the things we make; the artifacts, the systems, the tech. We see this again in Genesis 2:15; the task given to Adam was to "work and keep" God's beautiful garden. And in this task, we mustn't forget the seventh day! The cultural mandate includes a rhythm of God-focused rest and recreation.
Procreation. Cultivation. And recreation. That's the cultural mandate. Can you imagine receiving that job offer? Would you accept it? It’s worth reflecting on.
Given this, we can confidently say that technology, which is the manipulation of material for human flourishing, is good; it reflects God’s creativity and was part of the original cultural mandate.
But this isn’t the full standard by which we evaluate technology because the story doesn’t stop there. Adam failed to live up to the requirements of his job description. He and his wife rebelled, believing the serpent's lie that it was through their methods that they could "be like God," (Gen. 3:5).
Instead of choosing God's way of imagining the Creator, they chose the serpent's. It is good to be like God if we must choose the right model and the right method. Adam and Eve did not. For us today, we must model God like Jesus did, and trust, rather than question, God’s revealed instruction.
Technology Is Cursed
The history of humanity is the history of curse. Each person is under it unless they find the cure. Akin to the worst form of slavery, this spell cannot be easily undone. It shows itself in addiction to scrolling, habits of laziness, and screen-seduced spiritual depression. The central problem of technology is its cursedness, the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit, which all started after Adam's sin.
Genesis 3:17 describes God's response to Adam and Eve’s rebellion. He says, "Cursed is the ground because of you." Remember the latent potentiality placed in the garden by God for humanity to cultivate and fill the earth with? The silicon and lithium? Well, now it's cursed. According to Scripture, "it will produce thorns and thistles for you."
How do we see the thorns and thistles today? We can learn through modern writers, like Chris Martin and Samuel James, and older thinkers like Marshall McLuhan and Jacques Ellul, and we will draw on them in this book.
One of the most prominent technology critics of the late 1900s, Neil Postman, describes the curse of technology as a kind of "technocracy." The very thing we were made to rule over has come to rule us (instead of democracy we have a technocracy, says Postman). Too many of us, unfortunately, see technological progress as the answer to all life's problems. Riffing on Postman, we might say that the allure of newer and better penicillin has replaced prayer, digital distraction has replaced discipline, and psychotherapy and technology-mediated self-help have replaced repentance of sin and imitation of Jesus.
Technology adds and subtracts. It is always taking something from you even while giving something to you. Consider a car. It gives you efficient travel that is both comfortable and convenient. But choosing to drive to work instead of walking will also take things away such as the benefits of exercise, the opportunity to see and interact with other human beings, and the joy and groundedness present in the cool wind and warm sunshine along the way.
When we evaluate technology, we must not simply assess the benefits and the financial price, but the benefits and the burdens; the ways the technology adds and subtracts, the way it reflects God's good creativity, and the ways it brings forth the curse.
Technology Is Good And Cursed
Before launching our podcast, Joel and I first practiced a podcast episode by discussing Melvin Kranzberg's Six Laws of Technology, first published in the 1960s. It was episode zero, so to speak. The recording has been lost forever, but it was a good practice reflecting on one of the most important lists of “technology laws” ever written.
While not a Christian account of technology, there is a lot of wisdom in Kranzberg's laws. His first law is this: Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral. The point of this phrase is to demonstrate the complexity of technology, especially in the way technology changes things (more on the tech-changes-you principle in me next post).
I agree with Kranzberg's law in the sense that technology is neither solely good nor is it solely bad. But to say it's not good, without qualification, just isn't biblical. Remember the word that God used to describe his creation? Good. And the cultural mandate, because of its origin in God's design for us, is good.
We believe it is helpful to think of technology as something that has the potential – when done well – to resemble Adam's original task and be like our Creator. While it's true that the ground is cursed and man's actions are now tainted by sin, we mustn't give up on the call on our lives.
So, sorry Kranzberg. We'll have to agree to disagree. Technology is good, even while it’s simultaneously cursed. Every technology has a mixture of both. Just as the image of God is still present in each human being today, despite the sin in each one of us through original sin, so too, the goodness of technology remains today despite its cursedness.
Thank you for your detailed response! I see what you say and I agree with a lot of it.
If I understand you correctly, by “all technology is good”, you mean that all technology has some good in it because it ultimately comes from a good God who created everything and calls it good. I’d focus more on tech as a human endeavour (with God as the source and commander, as seen in the cultural mandate), but the same point stands: we’re made in the image of God and we’re broken, so everything we do will have some good and some bad in it.
I agree keeping this in mind can be helpful to gain insight on, for example, why people are so drawn to a technology that is harmful. For example, porn or addictive social media tap on good human desires and twist them for profit.
But I still wouldn’t say “all technology is good”… I could say “all technology has some good in it", but I don’t think that is the same thing as something being good.
After all, we humans have some good in us (the image of God and God calling us very good after creating us) and at the same time “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). In one sense we’re good because we were made by a good God, in His image; in other sense (a very important sense) we’re not good because we have a sinful nature. Something is good when it fulfills the purpose it was created for. Instead of missing the mark, it hits the target.
Saying “all technology is good” is sort of like saying “all humans are good.” I’d respond with a “On some sense yes… but also no. And please pay a lot of attention to the no”. When most people ask about “tech being good” they are asking “should I use it or avoid it?”. Most people are not thinking about the nature of tech nor thinking about if it’s hitting the target for its creators (oh, it is! It’s really good at making money) but, hopefully, they’re mostly thinking about if it’s helping THEM hit the target (at least this is —or should be— the concern of Christians). Is it making me love God and others better? Is it helping me to make creation flourish? Is it good?
Thank you for helping me continue to think about these things!
Yes a lot depends on how we define good. Though I like to always say “good and cursed.” Part of it is just a short phrase to get people to see the good if they are tech pessimists and the bad/curse if they are optimists.
John Dyer’s From the Garden to the City as well as Tony Reinke’s book on technology go into more detail on the goodness of technology.
There’s a deeper theological question about the relationship between existence and goodness. Augustine speaks of this. Evil is just the depreciation of the good.
And there are degrees of goodness. Humanity is worth more than any technology.
But yeah. I think we mostly agree here but you can adapt the language to suit your perspective and audience
Thanks for this, Andrew. My kids are still pretty young (9 and under) and we haven't had tons of technology exposure for them. But I'm very aware that it's right around the corner, so this was a helpful framework.