Joe Rogan - On the Question of Techno Utopianism
The podcaster Joe Rogan in a recent podcast mentioned that a day is coming soon when the world wold become a better place because we will have scientific advancement which will help human beings avoid the vices and the kind of behavior that harms others by programming correct thinking and action. Joe references a different podcast episode with Elon Musk talking about neural-link technology that can place micro-electrodes in people's brains to correct faulty ways in which the brain operates.
Joe Rogan's view is a form of Technology Utopianism. It is a view that technology will help solve the problems we face and then all things will be better. Of course, technology does help us solve problems. But the problem is, it often creates new problems. Bill Gates famously said technology helps us to save time, but it does not help us to know what to do with the time we have saved.
The idea of using micro electrodes in the brain to program away faulty thinking reminds me of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World which uses drugs instead of electromagnetism to manage brains creating a crime-less society with unmitigated happiness. The problem of course is that a society which does not have a sense of freewill ends up into becoming a rather boring society. One of the characters, John Savage, finds such a world so meaningless that he tries to find meaning in suffering, lashing himself with a whip, and eventually taking his own life away. Why would a society filled with easy ways for chemically induced happiness be rather boring and meaningless?
The German Philosopher Nietzsche says, the last men (the most modern men) have invented happiness and then "blink." We have created the sense of happiness whether through drugs or electromagnetism, but we "blink" because we don't know what to do with this new found cheap happiness.
If we are nothing more than a mere mixture of atomic arrangements, then we would be satisfied by any form of chemical reaction creating pleasure. However, it seems happiness is not just about avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. The happiness researcher Ed Diner says, "happiness is a process." We find happiness not just in experiences of pleasure, but in the meaningful pursuit of projects. From a theological point of view, this is important because we have been made in God's image - which gives us the responsibility to take care of the world around us.
My case is not against using micro-electrodes, my case is against the view that this would solve our problems of finding happiness. As Bill Gates says technology will give us more time and power, but it will not let us know what to do with it. Technology cannot give us purpose, technology can give us efficiency. For purpose we have to go to why we think God has created us.
Technology is good. Technology can make us efficient, but it cannot save us from ourselves. The problem with technology today is that it makes us more narcissistic. The documentary Social Dilemma on Netflix talks about Social Media giants monetize our narcissism and our need for approval to build multi-billion dollar revenue streams. We need spiritual enrichment to transcend our narcissism and live the the self-giving way of Jesus, pursuing our sense of purpose and meaning in responsible ways.