Neil Postman begins his thought-provoking book Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by retelling Plato’s ancient legend titled “The Judgement of Thamus.” Thamus was the king of the great city of upper Egypt. He once entertained the god Theuth, who was the inventor of many things, including number, calculation, geometry, astronomy, and writing. Theuth exhibited his inventions to King Thamus, claiming that they should be known and available to Egyptians.
Thamus inquired about the use of each invention, and as Theuth explained each one, the king judged each claim to be well or ill founded. It would take to long to go through all of Thamus’ judgments of Theuth’s technologies, but when it came to the invention of writing, Theuth declared, “Here is an accomplishment, my lord and king, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians.”
To this, Thamus replied: “Theuth, my paragon of inventors, the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practice it. So, it is in this: you who are the father of writing, have out of the fondness of your offspring attributed to it the opposite of its real function. Those who acquire it will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring to things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources. What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom, they will be a burden to society.
How would you judge Thamus’ judgment of the invention of writing? Has the technology of writing been a more of a help or a hindrance to human civilization? Would we have better memories, or would we be more forgetful without the aid of writing? Would we have more wisdom or less wisdom without writing? These are interesting questions to for us to ponder. We can certainly count the benefits of writing—everything from writing a simple grocery list to keeping legal records to reading classic literature. But sometimes I wonder if we ever stop and consider the drawbacks of writing.
When I was a youth pastor in Massachusetts, there was an old farmer named Bill who was an elder at my church. He was also on the search committee that hired me. Bill was forced to drop out of school when he was a young boy because he had to support his ailing parents by working on the farm. Consequently, Bill never learned how to read or write, and this always made him feel inferior.
But Bill ran one of the most successful farming businesses I’ve ever seen. What he lacked in literacy, he made up for in his ability to remember details and calculate numbers. I once watched him calculate exactly how many pumpkins were loaded in a semi-truck trailer and how much profit he would receive from Shaw’s supermarkets for the load—all without the aid of a calculator or ledger. You could ask him any complex math question, and he would answer it correctly in a matter of seconds.
Bill’s wife, Marsha, kept the accounting books for the business. She once told me that they just kept the books for the benefit of their vendors; Bill had every figure memorized in his mind—down to the last cent!
Even though Bill couldn’t read or write, he used his brain in ways that I’ve never witnessed in another human being. His superior memory, along with his wit and wisdom about life, made me feel inferior, even though I was a graduate student at the time.
Now you should know that I am a strong advocate of reading and writing, but it is people like Bill who make me stop and think about the drawbacks of not only writing but all technologies. We live in an age when people automatically assume that new is better than old and that more is better than less—that technology 2.0 is better than technology 1.0 because it is faster and more efficient. Unfortunately, many people never count the cost of new technologies, and rather than the technology being a terrific servant, it becomes a terrible master.
For instance, the mechanical clock is a really helpful tool for increasing the efficiency of time, but do you ever feel like your life is micromanaged by the clock? Your alarm goes off at 6:00a.m. and the rest of your day is determined by deadlines. We have them on our walls, on our wrists, on our nightstands, on our ovens, in our cars, on our computers, on our phones, and even in our churches! Have you ever tried to count how many times you look at a clock each day?
It’s interesting to note that the clock had its origin in the Benedictine monasteries of the twelfth century. The impetus behind the invention was to provide a more precise regularity to the routine of monasteries, which required, among other things, seven periods of prayer during the course of the day. The bells of the monastery were to be rung to signal the canonical hours.
But what the monks did not foresee is that the clock is a means not merely of keeping track of the hours but also synchronizing and controlling the actions of human beings. And thus, by the middle of the fourteenth century, the clock had moved outside the walls of the monastery and brought a new and precise regularity to the life of the workman and the merchant. The mechanical clock made possible the idea of regular production, regular working hours and a standardized product. In short, without the clock, capitalism would have been quite impossible. The paradox, the surprise, and the wonder are that the clock was invented by men who wanted to devote their time to God; it ended as a technology of greatest use by men who wished to devote themselves to the accumulation of money. In the eternal struggle between God and Mammon, the clock quite unpredictably favored the latter. As they say, “Time is money!” (Postman 14-15)
I’m sure none of the medieval monks would have anticipated that the clock would be one of the leading causes of stress, anxiety, and depression in the Twenty-First century. The clock started out as a terrific servant, but it has ended up as a terrible master! You see, every technology, whether it is writing or the clock, has unintended consequences. Most technologies promise progress and a brighter future, but they all have a dark side. Technology can take the place of God in people’s personal lives and in a whole society, which is a form of idolatry. This is exactly what we observe with the Cain’s defiance and descendants in Genesis 4.
The Dark Side of Technology: Cain’s Defiance and Descendants(Gen. 4:17-26)
Most of you are already familiar with the story Cain and Abel, let me quickly recap Genesis 4:1-16 by saying that Cain’s selfishness, jealousy, and anger led him to murder his own brother in cold blood. But instead of Cain feeling any remorse or taking responsibility for his actions, he denied all wrongdoing. When God asked, “Where is your brother Abel?” Cain responded with the chilling phrase, “I don’t know; am I my brothers keeper?” Then Cain learned the all-important lesson that it is impossible to hide sin from an all-knowing God. But even as God punished Cain for his sin, he was still gracious. God could have taken Cain’s life, but he showed mercy by banishing him to be a restless wanderer on the earth. He even put a special mark on Cain to protect him.
But notice verse 16, “Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” Don’t miss the significance of this verse. To go out from the presence of the Lord means that Cain completely turned his back on God! Cain was supposed be a wanderer, but what do we see him doing? He defies God by settling down. “East of Eden”, away from God’s presence and the memory of the paradise, Cain would make his own life. He would secure himself, and escape from his wonderings by innovating the technology of building the world’s first city.
And then when we read verse 17, we see the extent of Cain’s settling—now we find him thumbing his nose to God by having children and building a city. Even though God promised to protect him, he takes matters into his own hands and builds a city for his own safety and security. By naming the city after his son Enoch, it’s likely that Cain was defying God again. Cain was trusting in his own ingenuity rather than relying on God. He was not creating for the glory of God or the benefit of others; he was building a city and establishing kingdom to his own glory!
So, the name of the world’s first city, is named “Enoch”, or “initiation.” Cain was initiating a new (godless) way of life, as well as a new (godless)security, and a completely new (godless) sense of rootedness. Here the God estranged wanderer could settle in, take root and consider himself ‘at home’.
Then, in Genesis 4:18-26, we see Cain’s descendants carrying on his technological advances and getting caught up in progress without God. In verse 20, we see Jabal developing the technology of tentmaking and domesticating livestock. In verse 21, we see Jabal’s brother Jubal making music with instruments like the lyre and pipe. And in verse 22, their half-brother Tubal-Cain infatuated with forging of all instruments of bronze and iron. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these technologies, but Cain’s descendants were using them to promote independence from God and progress without God. As we see in other places in the Scriptures, tentmaking, metalworks, and musical instruments can all means of glorifying God and blessing other human beings, but they can also become idols that try to replace God.
I don’t have enough time to develop all of the theology in these chapters but let me briefly point out the contrast between the line of Cain in Genesis 4 and the line of Seth in Genesis 5. Ironically, both lines contain a man named Enoch. The Enoch in Cain’s line carried on his father’s defiance and independence from God. The Enoch in Seth’s line lived such a holy life unto the Lord that Genesis 5:24 tells us that he “walked with God, and was not, for God took him.” Both lines also contain a man named Lamach. In Cain’s line, Lamech marries multiple wives and ends up murdering a man. (Gen. 4:19, 23-24). He perpetuated the same spirit of revenge and violence as his ancestor Cain. The Lamech in the line of Seth became the father of Noah, whom God used to save the human race from the flood.
Do you see the difference between these two lines? One honored God and the other defied him! One walked in relationship with God and the other turned to their own human ingenuity and developed technologies to replace God! All of this should cause us to stop and think about our own views of technology and progress. This passage of Scripture highlights the dark side of technological advance; it so easily slips into idolatry and leads us away from God. Technology can be a terrific servant, but it is a terrible master! Therefore, we would be wise to keep our tech in check!
The television has been a wonderful technology for entertainment and even the proclamation of the gospel, but it has also shortened attention spans. People used to be able to focus their minds for 3-hour sermons, but now if I go five minutes over, people begin passing out or giving me dirty looks.
Automation has increased the efficiency of making products, but it has also contributed to human unemployment. The birth control pill has been a helpful technology for planning the timing and size of families, but it has also led to rampant sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage. Many of our medical technologies have extended the quantity of human life, but they have also detracted from the quality of human life.
The internet has increased our access to information, but it has also increased the risk of identity theft and pornography addiction. Social media has given us opportunities for mass communication, but it is also a tool that is used to peddling gossip and cyberbullying. Facebook is great for connecting with friends far away and sharing pictures of each other’s lives, but it can also be used as a forum for getting into pointless political arguments that people would never do in person.
Therefore, let’s learn from Cain and his descendants. Let’s use technology to the glory of God and for the benefit of human beings, but may we always be aware of its dark side. Be thoughtful about its unintended consequences! Be wary of how much time and money we spend on it! Be careful that it doesn’t lead us into idolatry! Technology is a terrific servant, but it is a terrible master! Therefore, let’s keep our tech in check!