Mankind And Technology

The story of Babel highlights the desire for human independence from God. “Babel is a monumental, communal attempt by Adam’s race to wrest human autonomy from God once more” (Bartholomew and Goheen, The Drama of Scripture, 52–53). The residents of Babylon put great confidence in their own technology to create a name for themselves. As an illustration, of how technology seeks to become a new religion, English author Aldous Huxley wrote a novel entitled Brave New World in 1931. The book takes place in a futuristic World State where genetically modified citizens live in an intelligence-based social hierarchy to make up a utopian society. Derek Miller states, “The world in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World has one goal: technological progress. The morals and aspirations of the society are not those of our society today – such as family, love, and success – but instead are focused around industry, economy, and technologic growth and improvement. The citizens are not concerned with themselves as individuals; they have been conditioned to see the world as a collective and technologically oriented. … The most prevalent themes in Brave New World are centered around the industrial and economic systems in novel, and how technology has brought the advancements of these themes to fruition. The mentality of the society is that progress, through invention, is the key goal of mankind. Consumerism and productivity are the purpose of life in Huxley’s industrial utopia” (Derek D. Miller, “Brave New World and the Threat of Technological Growth,” 2011, http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/509/brave-new-world-and-the-threat-of-technological-growth). The parallels to how we use technology today are endless.