Religion and the new technology

[rrneck]

4. Information is almost completely commodified.

When Mark Zukerberg can make money by knowing what kind of underwear you buy, I think the commidification of information is almost complete. And then along comes Twitter, a format that requires you to compress communication so it can more efficiently harvest "profitable terms" so now we don't just get logos projected at us, we make our own.

It seems that the ease with which information is transferred is inversely proportional to the quality of the ideas it represents. Information is not wisdom. Information is consumed, while wisdom is earned. Our approach to life has become that of a consumer shopping online for an ideology that fits. Important life decisions can be selected from a series of drop down menus. What you call a conference on religion I call a trade show. Those kids with computers are no different from someone at a car lot running vin numbers through Carfax.

Whether it's God or karma, the holy spirit or oneness with gaia, an electrochemical stew or an id or simply DNA, that something inside us is unique to each of us. And the only way we will understand it is to study it ourselves. Nobody else can do it for us. There is no easy way to get it done. And there is no "Swiss Army knife" cocktail of attitudes and practices that can do the job for you.


Given the state of the human race today and its recent history, self awareness certainly cannot be found through any technological, industrialized process. The more any ideology can be funnelled through such processes, the more inimical it will be to spiritual development.