Bryce Paulson Transformative Knowledge 5/15/13 Professor Needleman

Limits of Technology

The truths that technology gives us are only helpful in the empirical world The most difficult !uestions cannot "e answered or understood "y technology #s our dependence on technology "ecomes greater$ the further we get from the real truths and %nowledge that life has to offer &e "ecome fi'ated on the material world so much that we ris% loosing the a"ility of fulfilling our human potential &e do not need to develop anything e'cept ourselves if we wish to understand life and "ecome whole To say su"(ectively we have "etter lives "ecause of technology is a mista%e &e have easier lives in some ways "ut "y no means it ease correlated with "etter Technology can only ta%e us so far and limits our awareness of all that life has to offer Because we are so fi'ated on the idea technology is the answer to everything$ we give up loo%ing elsewhere for answers and dismiss findings outside our current scientific perspective &e feel that science is a"le to understand and answer everything &e need to reali)e that science is strictly dealing with empirical data &hile it can$ with great accuracy demystify and understand things in this world$ it cannot deal with the e'perience of what it is li%e to "e human There are parts of us that live in the unseen world and to understand them we must leave our current ways of thin%ing "ehind Nicole

points out that a strictly material view misses the$ *+dea, of life To loo% for the meaning of life from a material view will fail -omparing it to *loo%ing for the causes of a house only in its minute structure$ as if we could find its real .cause/ in the elementary "ric%s of which it is composed and not the idea "ehind it , 0p 331 &e still do not have an answer to the mind2"ody pro"lem despite all of our current technologies This is surprising and points to scientific limits of understanding man +n the case of man$ *Neither telescope nor microscope reveals his actual e'istence , 0p 331 To fully and correctly use technology we first need to "ecome whole The reason for this is "ecause we cannot "e sure that we are leading ourselves the right direction 3urther e'ploration into the power of technology is necessary in order to understand the implications that arise in a life revolving around technology Technological power is not intrinsically good or "ad4 it can "e used instrumentally for good or "ad things To illustrate this point$ lets us consider a current controversial issue in the 5nited 6tates The regulation and education of firearm use can "e compared to the idea of technology having good or evil "uilt into it or if it is the person/s responsi"ility to ensure the proper use 7any people "elieve that stricter laws and regulations will ensure the proper use of firearms The other side of the argument "elieves that it is each person/s responsi"ility to ensure the correct use$ through education and proper (udgment +n this case it is a difficult !uestion to answer in a simple way # com"ination of "oth sides seems "est to ensure the proper use The same goes for Technology$ we need to "e aware of what types of technology we allow people access to and educate them as to the powers and negative effects &hile + do not see technology as "eing a"le to have intrinsic good or evil$ precaution must "e ta%en in order to limit the types that are developed #n atomic "om"

can cause a great deal of harm$ the "om" itself is not "ad +t re!uires human interaction in order to "e "uilt and used 5ntil we have answered all of our inner !uestions and reali)ed our true potential$ we cannot correctly use technology 6ome of us see the invisi"le wires slowly growing out of technology latching onto us promising to never let go 7uch li%e 8nglish +vy growing on a tree$ it is entangling itself into and onto us and we willingly let it ta%e hold &e thin% it is harmless and actually might ma%e life nicer But what many people do not %now is that 8nglish +vy can cho%e trees &hen the ivy has engulfed the entire tree it "loc%s all light$ and %ills the tree &e are letting technology latch onto us and it is starting to "loc% out the natural light 0truths1 that the universe provides us with Nicole points out how we are "eing ta%en over$ *it is surely o"vious that the development of machines is not the development of man and it is e!ually o"vious that machinery is enslaving man , 0p 9:1 But we so not see this enslavement "ecase &8 created it +n our eyes it is doing nothing "ut following orders that we have designed into it There is no reason to "e alarmed from this viewpoint Because we get what we wanted from it$ we have no reason to !uestion the effects it is having on the "ig picture or care not to ac%nowledge any negative implications The lin% "etween machine processed food and early death due to o"esity is %nown But "ecause we have the technology in place and it ma%es things easy and cheap +t is too hard for us to get rid of$ "ecause we have "ecome dependent on it This dependence causes us to have deficits in our lives 7an is *gradually removing from him his possi"ilities of normal life and normal effort and the normal use of his function , 0p 99:1

This ease of life leads us to fear going "ac% to harder times Technology is nothing new to humans4 we have used forms of technology coconsciously or unconsciously for thousands of years 6tarting with the industrial revolution$ dependence on technology and its "y2products has grown from a lu'ury to a necessity 3or a current college student$ trying to imagine a successful academic career without the use of the +nternet and computers is frightening +t is so deeply engrained into our everyday actions$ many people forget to step "ac% and reali)e how much their lives revolve around technology &e must reali)e that the ma(ority of current college students carry a device that can$ within seconds provide them information or answers to most any factual in!uiry of their interest &hile this is no less than a marvel of human ingenuity$ it still has its shortcomings &hile this ma%es life easier$ this does not guarantee that it ma%es life "etter 3rom now on all humans will "e "orn into this environment Being "orn into the world of technology also has implications on a person/s moral (udgment + will out line a hypothetical e'ample to show moral issues pertaining to the proper used of technology -onsider that in the future we invent a time machine and travel into the 1;<<s to test what would happen if we gave one person a modern phone with +nternet access #ssuming we e'plain all the functions and give them a solar panel to charge it The receiver of this device now has to as% themselves some !uestions &hat moral duties do they have= >o they share their newfound wonder= They don/t have to$ it would not "e immoral to not share their technology with the world it would only "e selfish and cruel 3or what purpose do they use this= They could possi"ly predict the future and try to help

the world avoid disasters$ help develop modern medicine$ save the lives of the innocent or they could simply watch T? all day Because of this deep dependence there is no turning "ac%$ our civili)ation as a whole is at a new stage Nicole tal%s a"out stages of civili)ations$ *they appear to pass through definite stages$ li%e other organisms$ and (ust as there are people who attain maturity early or late so dose it perhaps happen with civili)ations , 0p 1:@1 &e are at the stage of technology and this will lead to the ne't stage of civili)ation +t is up to us what direction we will let technology ta%e us Li%e + said earlier it is hard to see outside the fruits of technology$ thin%ing that we are successfully "uilding towards the right direction +nstead of "lindly following along$ we need to as% ourselves if we are progressing + "elieve that we have "een progressing since our departure from apes$ "ut we have reached a more than comforta"le living standard for the people living in societies with technology 6tronger and faster are considered progress in the material world4 stronger and faster are not progress the inner human world The idea of progress is touched on in the te't$ *+f people could only understand that the latest discover is not necessarily the "est thing for humanity$ and "ecome s%eptical of the word progress$ they might insist on "ringing out a "etter "alance , 0p 9:1 The facts that we use to understand the sense2"ased world do not apply to the inner nature of man Technology presents us with access to facts of almost all things in the o"serva"le world &e have successfully understood what is outside of us with facts The difference "etween facts of the world and facts of the inner man is the inner facts are forever and unchanging &e have learned a great many empirical .facts/ since the

"eginning of man$ each time confidently claiming we are correct &e now have *evidence, for the "ig "ang "ut do not %now what caused it or if it happened for certain This proves that empirical *facts, will not get us any closer to understanding ourselves4 rather$ *man is his understanding2 not his possessions of facts or his heap of inventions and facilities , 0p 9:1 These empirical facts are (ust that$ empirical &hen we are faced with the toughest !uestions in life$ we cannot reali)e the answers from the material world +f we were to wonder what our purpose of living is$ why we e'ist vs not e'isting$ empirical data points to the creation of the universe This however is missing the point4 empirical answers only answer how we came to e'ist$ not for what reason &e may as% ourselves what happens to us when we die This is a !uestion that each person has as%ed themselves at some point in their lives But when we as% this !uestion we are generally not as%ing what happens to our material "odies The empirical answer is nature decomposes our "ody to "e used to create other living things &e are interested a"out what happens to our *soul, or our consciousness The answers to these !uestions lay in the unseen world Aeligion has set out to answer these !uestions through a connection with the unseen Aeligion is not aided "y technology and conflicts with scientific views Nicole spea%s of this conflict$ *+n following the evidence of the senses we accept the sum of reality more or less as lying on the side of the senses That there is anything else$ more real in its effect is not something that we can easily "e convinced a"out , 0p @;1 There is a divide that re!uires a shift from our sensual views to pursue the internal world The pro"lem is that in the material world we get more or less instant gratification #s technology advances this gratification "ecomes greater in !uantity and speed Bowever

the inner truths do not function in the same way They re!uire much more wor% in order to pursue and attain The ivy has grown thic% and the natural light is starting to fade from our view The natural light itself will never die$ however our a"ility to reach it is "eing threatened &e are constantly pushing our happiness into the future thin%ing we are not ready to "e fulfilled at the current moment Cn a small scale we tell ourselves$ we (ust need to ma%e it to the wee%end and then we will "e happy Cr that we (ust need to finished college then we can rela' and attain our true purpose Cr in the technological world we thin% that we (ust need the newest gadget in order to fulfill our needs But our true needs and desires are emanating from inside of us$ pushing us to e'plore in search of wholeness or completeness &e are incomplete in the sense that we do not understand the very "asic !uestions that arise from "eing human +nstead of trying to understand what we are lac%ing and can not see$ we focus on the parts that we can see$ thin%ing that improving the other parts will somehow suffice in completing us &e are li%e a music "o' that has no idea of who created us and for what reason 6o we analy)e this "o' with the most sophicated technological tools &e discover the inner components$ learning their atomic ma%e up and how each part affects the others &hen we turn the cran% and hear the music we analy)e the wavelength of the sound and loo% for mathematical patterns$ thin%ing this will help us understand the overall meaning This process is missing the point The music "o' is only a material vessel that is constructed to convey an idea or emotion that is transmitted through music 6cientific analysis of the music "o' does not get us any closer to the purpose of the music "o' The

answers to the music "o' lay inside of it$ not in the physically o"serva"le parts$ rather in the unseen essence &e all have different melodies and are constructed in slightly different ways$ "ut all have within us$ the true purpose for our e'istence To understand the music ta%es a shift in thin%ing that is contrary to all things that govern our everyday lives There is no simple answer to the way of doing this &e can "e aware of the shortcomings of the sensual world and technology$ "ut to show a clear way to access the truths that are rooted in the unseen world is a difficult tas% + am no e'pert in these truths$ + simply have come to learn the limits of my ordinary ways of in!uiry and reali)e the need to shift my perspective in order to tap into the unseen &hile this tas% may seem daunting or unreal$ it is far from impossi"le &e already have all we need to understand life This is "ecause the truths and the a"ility to access these answers were given to us at "irth

Aeferences Nicoll$ 7 01DEE1 Living Time NetherlandsF 8ure%a 8ditions