Day 2 of our journey to Colorado Springs (left Amarillo this morning; will cross into NM soon)
Bonhoeffer (quote from Marsh’s bio):
The earth that nourishes me has a right to my work and my strength. It is not fitting that I should despise the earth on which I have my life; I owe it faithfulness and gratitude. I must not dream away my earthly life with thoughts of heaven and thereby evade my lot—to be perforce a sojourner and a stranger—and with it God’s call into this world of strangers. There is a very godless homesickness for the other world, and it will certainly create no homecoming. I am to be a sojourner, with everything that entails. I must not close my heart indifferent to the earth’s problems, sorrows and joys; rather I am to wait patiently for the redemption of the divine promise—truly wait, and not rob myself of it in advance by wishing and dreaming.
Finished reading: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Clive Staples Lewis 📚
Kristyn and I spent a few nights away in Comfort, TX on a marriage retreat (which was great!). At the inn where we stayed, they had some pictures up of (mostly) early modern philosophers. Not sure what to make of that…
Why do extroverts insist on calling themselves introverts?
currently listening: Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan
Finished reading: Technopoly by Neil Postman 📚
A persuasive account of the rise and triumph (heh) of technology over all aspects of culture. I imagine it rings even more true today than when it was written (1992!). Some of his historical work is a little broad and impressionistic. However, if, like me, you find his overall account plausible, then it’s not hard to imagine specialists putting some of his historical judgments on firmer footing.
The only other thing to note: Works of cultural criticism like Technopoly always have trouble landing the plane with creative solutions (see: Deneen’s Why Liberalism Failed). This is not meant as a harsh criticism: describing problems is easier than proposing solutions. Postman makes a big deal throughout of the ways that Technopoly has undermined traditional narratives and frameworks for making meaning and giving coherence to human life. His gesture at a potential solution in the final chapter involved a revamped approach to education under the banner of what he calls “the ascent of humanity” (drawing on the similarly titled work by Jacob Bronowski). Suffice it to say: such a meager proposal seems totally inadequate to the daunting challenge that Technopoly so aptly describes.
In the concluding chapter of Technopoly, Neil Postman provides some ways that the “loving resistance fighter” can fight against the American Technopoly: Resistance fighters are those who…
- pay no attention to a poll unless they know what questions were asked, and why
- refuse to accept efficiency as the pre-eminent goal of human relations
- have freed themselves from the belief in the magical powers of numbers, do not regard calculation as an adequate substitute for judgment, or precision as a synonym for truth
- refuse to allow psychology or any "social science" to pre-empt the language and thought of common sense
- are, at least, suspicious of the idea of progress, and who do not confuse information with understanding
- do not regard the aged as irrelevant
- take seriously the meaning of family loyalty and honor, and who, when they "reach out and touch someone," expect that person to be in the same room
- take the great narratives of religion seriously and who do not believe that science is the only system of thought capable of producing truth
- know the difference between the sacred and the profane, and who do not wink at tradition for modernity's sake
- admire technological ingenuity but do not think it represents the highest possible form of human achievement