Nigel
Cameron:
Technological
Humanism

While we humans have devised and employed technology for thousands of years, the ever-faster digital revolution has transfixed our attention and raised fundamental questions about what lies ahead for our species. Can we hope to maintain a "human" frame of reference for the future?

Against the blandishments of "transhumanists" with their naive narrative of the superiority of machine culture, against the naturally "Luddite" tendency of others to repudiate technology, and against the massive disinterest of the church in the most consequent issues of our generation, we need to frame new and emerging technological developments as sub-sets of our humanity and its mission under God. For technology is at root an aspect of anthropology, and while it can of course be abused the longing for the way we were - however far back you choose to go - is a losing prospect. Those of us who believe we were created by God to take responsibility for this creation (whether we see that in terms of the earth or the Solar System or the cosmos) need to be rescued from such false assumptions and to take responsibility for the unfolding of the "dominion mandate" in our generation - and its potential future. It may be a billion years before God chooses to wind up this present order,  and we may long before then be not only a multi-planetary species but find ourselves engaging with vastly intelligent creatures across the expanses of universe. As we read the Bible and say the Creed in 2016 our eyes need to be fully open.

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