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<\/a><\/p>\nTo download and listen to the message, please click here. \u00a0To read the message, please see below.<\/p>\n\n
Will you donate $5, $10 or $20 in appreciation for this message? Your online tax-deductible donation will help us continue our charitable outreach work to homeless children and provide future online messages. \u00a0Please click the \u201cGive Online\u201d button located above. Thank you!<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u200bMost of us know\u00a0the\u00a0legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. \u00a0Originating as a series of poems written in the thirteenth century, the legends of King Arthur grew in popularity during medieval years when theatrical productions of the tales traveled from city to city. \u00a0Alfred Tennyson re-popularized the tales in the nineteenth century as Arthur again became a cultural hero and ideal leader who fought for justice, equality, and fair play. \u00a0His Camelot kingdom was a type of earthly heaven – a vision of a perfected world where the forces of good not only battle evil but prevail. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bTennyson elaborated on Camelot by also\u00a0describing\u00a0a mysterious place called the island of Avalon where forces of magic operate\u00a0for the betterment of humanity. \u00a0After he is seriously wounded in battle, Tennyson’s King\u00a0Arthur\u00a0travels to Avalon to be the healed. \u00a0Avalon is the place where his\u00a0powerful and mystical sword Excalibur\u00a0was manufactured and forged. \u00a0The magic of Avalon heals Arthur as he basks in its regulated climate that prevents storms, wind, cold and hail – a place that is a part of the natural world but also mystical in its powers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bMany contemporary commentators believe humanity has\u00a0created\u00a0its own Avalon with the development of life changing technology. \u00a0We inhabit a world in which we can fly thousands of miles in\u00a0a few\u00a0hours, appear in pictures and video transmitted instantly around the world, heal our bodies of disease by manipulating cells and their genetic structures, and consult with machines that are smarter and intellectually superior to even the most intelligent human. \u00a0Compared to life only a century ago, we now inhabit a world where technological magic has transformed the earth into one that is vastly better, in many respects, than ever before.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bBut much like the mythical Camelot\u00a0and Avalon,\u00a0our very real technological earth is not perfect. \u00a0It is infected and brought low not by machines themselves, but by their misuse, by the frailties, imperfections and flaws of\u00a0their human users. \u00a0The Atomic bomb was created as a machine of mass death which also paradoxically saved\u00a0millions of lives. \u00a0But it\u00a0is now\u00a0a doomsday machine\u00a0device\u00a0–\u00a0a\u00a0form of technology that could end much of human life in a matter of minutes. \u00a0The computer was developed as a machine of efficiency – something that can\u00a0calculate and analyze vast amounts of data in milliseconds. \u00a0It has become, in the hands of humans, something addictive, something often trivial, something that has already replaced millions of human workers and caused a crisis inunemployment. \u00a0The ability to decode cells and genes has led to disease curing as much as it has also spawned the frightening human potential to play god by controlling, manipulating and even creating life.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bConfronted with massive and rapid technological change, humans have responded in different ways. \u00a0Many\u00a0critics\u00a0reject modern technology by seeing the changes it brings as evil\u00a0and destructive. \u00a0Technology causes humans to disconnect not only from nature but from each other, they say. \u00a0Technology dehumanizes, destroys empathy, encourages isolation, fosters materialism,\u00a0imperils the natural world and often leads to unintended but quite evil applications.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bMy parents are examples of people who are viscerally afraid of and dislike the internet, smartphones,\u00a0Facebook, and\u00a0most\u00a0computers. \u00a0These are the toys of irresponsible young people who text and drive, or waste hours of time doing trivial things like playing games and informing others of their everyday activities. \u00a0Even with her dementia, my mom still shakes her head disapprovingly when she sees me using a computer,\u00a0believing I should be doing something useful. \u00a0She refuses to believe it is a tool for my work – as essential to what I do today as a pen and paper were to Pastors a century ago. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bMy parents proudly announce how they are smarter and better than those who waste time and money on modern computing devices. While their observations about usage of the internet,\u00a0Facebook\u00a0and smartphones are partially true, my parents have become modern day\u00a0“flat-earthers”\u00a0– the same as those who in the past denounced as useless and evil such historic technological advances like the railroad or the telephone.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bUsing almost the identical arguments of those who have criticized the internet, computers and\u00a0social media, early opponents of the telephone said it would be used by criminals, reduce privacy, spell the end of writing, and ultimately be nothing but a toy. \u00a0President Rutherford Hayes said of the telephone, “It is an amazing invention but who would ever want to use one of them?”<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bWhen Alexander Graham Bell offered to sell his telephone patent to Western Union, a corporate committee set up to consider the purchase announced, “Why would any person want to use this ungainly and impractical device when he can send a messenger to the telegraph office and have a clear written message sent to any large city in the United States? \u00a0The device is hardly more than a toy. \u00a0It is inherently of no use to us. \u00a0We do not recommend its purchase.” \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bMy goal in the message series this month, “A Matter of Ethics” is toprovoke thought, discussion and consideration of\u00a0ethical questions. \u00a0Ultimately, for any person who considers spiritual matters, ethics are central principles which ought to be the focus for consideration. \u00a0When Jesus taught and practiced ideals of non-violence and humility, he was promoting ethical standards. \u00a0The same with Buddha when he encouraged letting go of material attachments as a way to find peace. \u00a0Even as they could not have imagined many of the issues facing modern society, universal ethics can be drawn from what they and other historic prophets taught. \u00a0For our topic today, how\u00a0do universal ethics operate in a world seemingly taken over by indifferent and amoral technology?<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bTo set a foundation for a\u00a0discussion of ethics, it’s important to review the four primary ways people approach ethical\u00a0issues. \u00a0The utilitarian approach, originally defined in the eighteenth century by Jeremy Bentham,considers the\u00a0outcome\u00a0or\u00a0consequences\u00a0of any action. \u00a0Does somethingcreate\u00a0maximum\u00a0happiness for the greatest number of people – no matter the ways it is achieved? \u00a0 \u00a0Duty ethics, as elaborated by Immanuel Kant, considers the\u00a0rightness\u00a0of\u00a0actions\u00a0and\u00a0behaviors, no matter the\u00a0outcome.\u00a0Virtue ethics looks at the overall\u00a0quality\u00a0of a person’s total character. \u00a0Finally, relationship ethics focuses on human communication and interactions. \u00a0Something is ethical if it encourages greater understanding between people.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0Our difficulty lies in which ethical approach\u00a0to\u00a0apply? \u00a0The Atomic bomb, as used by the U.S., killed perhaps 150,000 people: a horrific death toll. \u00a0But it ended the war. \u00a0It\u00a0prevented\u00a0an invasion of Japan that likely would have laid waste to much of that nation while killing potentially hundreds of thousands of civilians and soldiers. \u00a0From a utilitarian perspective, it produced happiness for a maximum number of people. \u00a0But from Kant’s perspective, any machine that kills so many people must by itself be unethical even if it ultimately saved even more lives.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bTechnoethics is an emerging field of thought that is being strongly encouraged in engineering and other scientific fields. \u00a0Scientists, inventors and others responsible for developing new forms of technology are tasked with examining inventions from an ethical perspective not just for the present but also for the future. \u00a0They are encouraged to think as creatively as possible by imagining possible future unintended uses or consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bEthicists and scientists have tentatively\u00a0arrived at a very loose set of standards that ought to be applied to any technology before it is widely introduced. \u00a0Interestingly, they\u00a0combine\u00a0the four ethical approaches that I just discussed. \u00a0At the corporate headquarters for Google, located in Silicon Valley and at a place where thousands of its employees walk by every day, a large and permanent sign\u00a0is\u00a0prominently displayed. \u00a0“Do No Evil”\u00a0it reads. \u00a0Such a maxim is Google’s universal ethic as its employees work on an\u00a0array of life changing forms of technology from wearable computers like Google glasses to robotic, self driving cars. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bEthical considerations for technology that most experts agree on are: Does a certain technology add\u00a0value\u00a0to human life? \u00a0Does it not onlyadvance\u00a0knowledge but also advance human efficiency, health, well-being, or happiness? \u00a0Can the new technology be\u00a0understood, at a very basic level, by\u00a0the\u00a0average person? \u00a0Will the new technology be cost effective and thus\u00a0affordable\u00a0to\u00a0many\u00a0people? \u00a0Will it be\u00a0equally available\u00a0to\u00a0most people\u00a0and thus help promote\u00a0human\u00a0equality and fairness? \u00a0Will its uses do more good than bad for the greatest number of people? \u00a0Has it been studied as much as possible to determine any negative unintended\u00a0uses or consequences?<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bA twentieth century french philosopher, Michel Henry, wrote\u00a0against technology\u00a0and its influence. \u00a0Henry believed that technology separates humanity from the natural world. \u00a0Indeed, he believed technology is a materialistic pursuit that reduces the world into commodities and things to be exploited. \u00a0By detaching\u00a0themselves\u00a0from nature,\u00a0humanity allowstechnology\u00a0to alienate people\u00a0from ethics of collaboration, harmony, gentleness and peace. \u00a0The hell-bent pursuit of innovation harms humans instead of helping them. \u00a0Implicitly, an ethical approach to most forms of technology is to avoid it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bHenry was reacting to a more famous contemporary of his, the German philosopher and theologian Martin Heidegger who wrote extensively on technology and its ethical applications. \u00a0His approach to technology was not to see it as something detached from the natural world but as a fundamental part of it. \u00a0Technology, he believed,\u00a0revealed\u00a0nature. \u00a0Any form of science or innovation reveals truth and natural laws. \u00a0He drew an analogy with the Rhine river – a thing of beauty and power. \u00a0Harnessing its energy to produce hydroelectricity\u00a0simply reveals something that was already inherent in the river. \u00a0Something mysterious and powerful\u00a0ispartially revealed which does not negate or take away the beauty of the river. \u00a0Indeed, he believed hydroelectric power reveals one facet of the river’s beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bIn this way, Heidegger believed, technology has a spiritual component. \u00a0Instead of being something to avoid\u00a0or sharply limit, the pursuit and use of science and technological innovation is a spiritual exercise that peels away layers of mystery. \u00a0 And that only leads to more layers of mystery yet to be revealed. \u00a0The essence of computers andFacebook\u00a0and atom bombs and gene splicing have all been inherent in nature \u00a0– \u00a0in the protons and electrons and cellular structures that have existed over eons. \u00a0To understand them and put them to use is to reveal aspects of the divine. \u00a0 While Heidegger does not explicitly use these words, his argument is clear: \u00a0God is seen in any form of technology.\u00a0\u00a0It is a piece of nature as worthy of respect and admiration as is a sunset or a line of towering mountains. \u00a0Humans have not, in a philosophical sense, made the computer – they have simply\u00a0revealed it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bNew technology is, according to Heidegger, not a matter of fate but\u00a0it is discovered\u00a0in\u00a0a purposeful linear direction toward truth. \u00a0Technology\u00a0is a form of revelation that is\u00a0and will forever be\u00a0ongoing. \u00a0It is directed on a progressive path –\u00a0things that reveal hidden truths.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bAll of this\u00a0is a highly philosophical consideration of technology\u00a0that can help us find an ethical response to it. \u00a0Michel Henry touched on the negative uses of technology. \u00a0Humans can use it to destroy the natural world of which they are also a part. \u00a0But Henry was only partially correct. \u00a0The truth\u00a0is not that evil is inherent in technology but rather\u00a0evil is found\u00a0in misguided human\u00a0application\u00a0of it. \u00a0Texting on cell phones, for example,\u00a0is not a bad technology\u00a0by itself. \u00a0It is a useful innovation that helps people. \u00a0Used unethically – by texting while driving, texting in the middle of a meeting or during\u00a0church\u00a0– that is what is bad. \u00a0Ethics therefore cannot apply to the technological thing – only to how it is used or misused.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bOf great importance to us, therefore, is to understand technology andhow it works. \u00a0We must then be aware of its\u00a0good or\u00a0bad uses and thereby apply ethical standards for its use.\u00a0\u00a0Ethically, we must learn about a technology’s functions even if we choose not to use it. \u00a0We cannot be ignorant of it.\u00a0\u00a0As Heidegger points\u00a0out, technology and science must be seen in their\u00a0existential\u00a0context. \u00a0Along with the natural world, technology s \u200bWho cannot marvel in awe at the wonders\u00a0of today’s\u00a0technology? \u00a0It is said that the hundreds of computers used to guide the Apollo spacecraft to the moon and back were, in their totality, far simpler and less powerful than any single\u00a0one\u00a0of the smartphones present in this room. \u00a0Such power is staggering in light of human history. \u00a0What has been technologically achieved in the last century surpasses all the rest of technological achievement over previous centuries all put together. \u00a0And this onward rapid innovation will only increase. \u00a0In many of our lifetimes, robots will do more and more work\u00a0without ever growing tired or bored. \u00a0Nano technology will soon be here with computers the size of pinheads\u00a0that can be, for instance,\u00a0injected into our bodies to monitor our health and robotically search out and\u00a0destroy disease.\u00a0\u00a0Google has already developed and is widely testing thousands of self driving cars on public streets in California. \u00a0Within ten years I predict many of us will get into a car, tell it where we want to go and then sit back, read our iPads and drink coffee while it safely takes us there. \u00a0We\u00a0are not on the cusp of a science fiction world – we have already moved into it and innovations will keep coming faster and faster.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bSo what should we do? \u00a0Fear it? \u00a0Ignore it? \u00a0Condemn it because we are not used to such things? \u00a0While I don’t demean my parents or others who\u00a0don’t use\u00a0various forms of technology, my plea is for any person to understand it and respect it. \u00a0We cannot become like the zealots of the past who refused to recognize that the earth revolved around the sun or that all matter is composed of unseen building blocks called atoms. \u00a0That attitude may seem silly to us today but those who decry computers,\u00a0social media or other technologies will be similarly laughed at in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bWhether or not I choose to use\u00a0Facebook, for instance, is not a pertinent ethical question. \u00a0We all have freedom of choice. \u00a0To be ethical about it and technology in general,\u00a0however, I\u00a0must not deride it, sneer at it, or fail to learn about it and understand it. \u00a0As just one example of contemporary technology,\u00a0Facebook\u00a0has applications and uses that are revolutionizing human communication – for good and bad. \u00a0But it’s good uses have helped spread democracy, improve the condition of women, and reveal evil when it rears its ugly head in the form of bigotry, greed and hate. \u00a0It is a worldwide\u00a0communication tool\u00a0from which none of us can hide. \u00a0\u200b<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bAs spiritual progressives, we understand the need for progress in order to improve human life. \u00a0Refusing to remain stuck in the past, progressives see life, ethics, technology, morals,\u00a0politics\u00a0and spirituality as things to be continually questioned, studied, and revealed. \u00a0Absolutists who believe we already have found all truth fail to see the dynamism ofexistence, knowledge and spirituality. \u00a0To assume we already know all truth is to make ourselves like God. \u00a0Instead, truth will continue to be revealed in the form of technology – things of tremendous power, utility and beauty.\u00a0\u00a0We do not fear them or run from them. \u00a0We instead\u00a0embrace them with the awareness that the thing itself cannot be evil or bad, only how some humans use it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bAnd that truth requires we apply the ethics I previously elaborated – or as Google constantly reminds its employees – “Do no evil.” \u00a0Indeed, the use of any form of technology falls back on the one eternal and universal ethic which I often speak – the Golden Rule: the ethic of acting, speaking and treating others in the same manner which one hopes to be spoken to and treated by others.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bUltimately, as Martin Heidegger believed, any form of technology is a beautiful and amazing picture of the natural world – a way to see, understand and benefit from nature\u00a0and the divine. \u00a0Our ethical approach to technology, therefore, must be to\u00a0accept\u00a0it\u00a0and respect it while understanding that it is we humans who will use it for good or evil. \u00a0Consistent with our purpose in life, may we\u00a0enthusiastically\u00a0use\u00a0alltechnology to build, here on earth, a Camelot, an Avalon, a Garden of Eden for each and every person.<\/span><\/p>\n I wish you all much peace and joy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u200bFor our talkback time this morning, we invite any and all\u00a0briefcomments or thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To download and listen to the message, please click here. \u00a0To read the message, please see below. 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\nimply is. \u00a0It is nature and nature is it. \u00a0Within this framework, all forms of technology have always existed and, because of that, they are as intrinsically good as any other part of the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n