Much has been written of late about the risks we incur by our increasing dependence on technology. As the song puts it: “Is it a boon or a bane?”. From the perspective of Christian social doctrine one might ask if technology enhances or jeopardizes the virtues of subsidiarity and solidarity? Because it eliminates the human element in production is the robotization of our daily tasks dehumanizing as some would contend? Or, by liberating us from toil does it in fact allow us to be more human.
It does fire up the imagination when one considers what today’s technology would have wrought were it available to the great minds that fashioned the course of our progress through the millennia. Imagine Hippocrates with a stethoscope, Pythagoras with a calculator, Augustine with email, Aquinas with a word processor, Michaelangelo with a 3-D printer or DaVinci with CadCam, Newton with electricity, or Beethoven with music software! How different would our world be today? How much more and much sooner these individuals could presumably have advanced our grasp or science, philosophy and art.
Obviously, technology can be used for ignoble ends as well as edifying ones. Unwarranted violence, pornography, addictions, irresponsible exploitation of natural resources, invasion of privacy, etc. are examples. But, there is a more subtle evil which can attach itself to technology, one which our culture (bereft as it is becoming) lauds as a virtue: self-independence.
As a hat-tip to the gods of convenience and efficiency our ad agencies promote the do-it-yourself (DIY) mentality. Technology facilitates this mindset. Indeed, it may be said that to a certain extent the DIY mentality creates certain technologies. The danger here is that, rather than uniting us technology when used in service to ourselves separates us. It’s the ‘why do I need you when all I need is me’ attitude. Solidarity fades into irrelevance. And, as for subsidiarity, the solution to the problem I solve for myself is not local; rather it resides wherever the control of the technology exists (I speak with someone in India when my computer crashes).
A counter to these risks to solidarity and subsidiarity – a counter which can be immeasurably strengthened by technology – is philanthropy. Somewhere in his letters St. Paul writes about ‘partners in grace’. In philanthropy there are partners in grace – and they share the dignity equally. They are the donor and the recipient. Each makes it possible for the other to enter a grace-filled relationship, to be partners in the betterment of our situation, to be partners in grace. Technology facilitates this wonderfully today. Now, philanthropy wherever exercised can be local. A grade school in East Timor is as near as the laptop in my home. Solidarity is at one’s fingertips. So is subsidiarity because what is relevant is not the location of the solution but the personal collaboration that makes it possible.
The families who have created donor advised funds at the National Catholic Community Foundation understand this. Whether the recipients of their distributions (their partners in grace) are in their home town, elsewhere in the country, or indeed overseas, the ‘partner exchange’ is made possible by technology. In this regard NCCF is proud to help.
Technology can help us be partners-in-grace or competitors-in-indulgence. It’s our choice. One thing is certain, however. ‘Self-service’ is an oxymoron – unless of course it means we present ourselves for service of others.
Dana Robinson’s clear thinking and eloquence as a wordsmith are fantastic to read. Every time I receive his Advancing the Kingdom, I stop what I am doing and enjoy. Thank you, Mr. Robinson. -Monica Ashour
As usual, very thought provoking. Thanks Dana for this article.