technology

Technology has opened our eyes and enabled us to understand and appreciate the world around us. It has removed the blinders of superstition, mistrust and may reduce conflict (or increase it). That last point brings to mind the inventor of Dynamite, who felt that his invention would eliminate war because it would be to horrific that no one would contemplate or go along with something so catastrophic. It's strange that we think the same way about nuclear weapons. With the knowledge of nuclear technology out of Pandora's box, will we see another nuclear blast in the world? More then likely. Technology has answered questions that could not have been answered without it, and at the same time as opened our eyes to questions we might never have considered. It has lead to population growth, giving us a intellectual critical mass necessary for increased technological growth. We have learned how the live longer, extend life share knowledge and experience. From the development of the written word to the internet we are able to share thoughts without having to be there, share with more people and at any time. If I were to sit down and discuss this with everyone that read it I would not have time for myself, to experience life or share more knowledge. On the other hand it is often incomplete. The written word rarely carries the emotions of the author. Reading this you could not know that I'm listening to a talk about laughter. That the radio program I'm listening to has put a smile on my face. The realization that I'm learning something about ourselves that I may never have considered. What does this mean for the evolution of intelligence?

Have you ever considered the intelligence of animals. They are intelligent, but of a different kind then ours. A whale has a larger brain then ours, but is it needed to process echolocation, or are they wiser then humans? There is a minimal intelligence needed for survival, and it is the excess that gives rise to culture. Culture as expressed by art, stories, song, games…. At the same time it can also lead to superstition, mistrust, and religion. Those last three can be either positive or negative depending on the point of view and how it is used. I sometimes wonder if religion is just a form of superstition. Or is religion the key to our survival as a species. Can religion help us grow beyond the need for a physical form? The lack of physical form lead to longer life, and thus the ability to reach parts of the universe that we could never physically reach. The ability the survive to the end of the universe, and see if there is a big crunch (t he opposite of the big bang. Or with the universe simply stretch it's self into oblivion and the all the suns burn themselves out and all the energy of the universe is so scattered that physical beings could not survive.

"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein To me the two are necessary, and do not need to be exclusive. You can have science and religion coexisting, as long as you remain flexible. Science without religion could be seen as science without ethics. Science without ethics can lead to harm for individuals or groups. The importance of ethics should not be a question, just the minutia of who's ethics. Religion without science is the path of fanaticism, ignorance. Someone once said the Dark Age wasn't dark. That it was bright in the religious icons of the period. That there was a growth of religious art… The problem with that is that that is all there was, religious art. A view that if it repeated what the bible said it was redundant if it contradicted the bible it wasn't true. It's called the Dark Age because the light of learning was dimmed.
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." Albert Einstein. The dangers of technological progress without a corresponding progress in ethics, religion, or culture is unstable. The result "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." Albert Einstein. For example we have split the atom but as a species we have yet to fully learn how to handle it. We are still in danger of blowing ourselves up with it. That is just one example where we seem to be progressing beyond our abilities to understand and cope with technology. There is also the problem of complexity. As technology make our lives more complex we are find it harder to know everything that we should, or able to cope with. I see a world so complex that people can't know all the pitfalls and more people will find themselves falling more and more pitfalls (financial, social...) As we discover more pitfalls the overall quality of life of people as a whole will decrease, more grumbling, less happiness.

We use science to look for and learn more about life, yet what about looking inwards. The possibility that we will be able to travel to distant worlds before the sun fries us seems unlikely. I suggest one alternative is the transcendent, or the evolution of the mind. I'm reading an Arthur C Clark book where an ancient inelegance has launched an attack. It ties in with the ideas for the space odyssey novels, an ancient intelligence/species/life that has transcended the material form. They have moved on. I wonder if that is a goal more worthy then technology. Not to the exclusion of technology. I wouldn't give up on interstellar flight just yet. Many things that may have seemed impossible years ago are now possible. So how do we do both. We let science handle the interstellar flight, and religion handle the transcendent. Technology is keeping its end of the bargain up, but what of religion what does it need to do. For my answer to that answer see "Religion; the forbidden subject".