Tech Agnostic
How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation
by Greg Epstein
ebook
1 of 2 copies available
Today’s technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community. In Tech Agnostic, Harvard and MIT’s influential humanist chaplain Greg Epstein explores what it means to be a critical thinker with respect to this new faith. Encouraging readers to reassert their common humanity beyond the seductive sheen of “tech,” this book argues for tech agnosticism—not worship—as a way of life. Without suggesting we return to a mythical pre-tech past, Epstein shows why we must maintain a freethinking critical perspective toward innovation until it proves itself worthy of our faith or not.
Epstein asks probing questions that center humanity at the heart of engineering: Who profits from an uncritical faith in technology? How can we remedy technology’s problems while retaining its benefits? Showing how unbelief has always served humanity, Epstein revisits the historical apostates, skeptics, mystics, Cassandras, heretics, and whistleblowers who embody the tech reformation we desperately need. He argues that we must learn how to collectively demand that technology serve our pursuit of human lives that are deeply worth living.
In our tumultuous era of religious extremism and rampant capitalism, Tech Agnostic offers a new path forward, where we maintain enough critical distance to remember that all that glitters is not gold—nor is it God.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 29, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780262379755
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780262379755
- File size: 2293 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 1, 2024
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 bestsellerGood 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.COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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