Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Technology: Morally And Pragmatically Neutral

For all the potential dangers and incredibly exaggerated negative reputation (in some circles) of technology, it is, unless the unprovable idea of technology being intrinsically evil is true, a wholly neutral thing.  This would be the Biblical position on the matter and the rational one independent of Biblical doctrines.  Providing many workplace, social, and other benefits, it would have to be used maliciously, deceptively, or in some other morally erroneous way--if these things are immoral in the first place--to be evil.  If anything, a lesser technological development is far more unsafe than the alternative, and technology can always neutralize plenty of the hurtful uses of other technology.  Yes, there is the capacity for digital privacy breaches, mass media deception, reckless or unjust killing by drones or firearms, and so on.


It is still absolutely neutral in itself as far as pragmatic outcomes goes and every potential harm is really either about how technology is used or it is accompanied by an equal or greater benefit.  Cellular phones can be used to arrange adulterous interactions or promote lies through messaging or broader online functionality, and they can be hacked by outsiders with the intent to abduct someone or maliciously spy on them, but they can also enable close friends to hear each other's voices across great distances and summon emergency personnel.  Firearms can be used to engage in robbery, murder, and more, but they can also be used for the purposes of self-defense or hunting animals for food.  Vehicles can be used to recklessly destroy lives and property, or they can be used for safe transportation and personal enjoyment without the illicit endangerment of life or property.

Technology does not worsen human behavior because only humans or literal mind control from external sources could do that.  What it can do is provide already irrational, wicked people new avenues to express their own errors and sins, or they entice themselves into using technology for immoral or asinine ends.  Surveillance and communication technology can also expose human behaviors that would already be present anyway, and although this enhanced level of documentation or visibility via photography, social media, and the general Internet can feed into certain people's desire for notoriety even when it is obtained by being stupid and evil, it cannot be responsible.

In truth, it is surveillance and communication technology that allows for people to be more safe in various ways.  A criminal (and I mean a criminal under the Torah's laws rather than under the meaningless constructs of human laws) could evade detection in spite of things like security cameras and cell phones that typically make their efforts far more difficult, but the measures they must take to avoid being caught are much more rigorous than those a less technologically developed society would require.  As for non-criminal dangers and inconvenient situations, it is easier than it would otherwise be, again thanks to things like wireless communication between devices such as cell phones, to call or text for help.

Whoever complains about technology is often really objecting to how it it used and then confusing the outcome, perhaps one that they only subjectively dislike instead of one that is objectively destructive or evil, for technology itself.  In other cases, it might be emotionalistic hatred of technology that is not presented in the guise of anything else (to the objector themself or to others).  Additionally, nostalgia for a less technologically developed time could be at the heart of such a stance.  This would again be about embracing fallacies and subjective preference, but it is a possible motivation.  There is no such thing as logical proof we can access or even mere evidence in favor of using technology being inherently evil.  It is regardless not harmful until used in such a manner.

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