by G. Jack Urso
From the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.
The search for truth, the discovery of
nature’s secrets’, as Decartes put it, is an idiosyncratic search for temporary
truth. One truth is replaced by another. The fact that over time science has
provided a more complex picture of nature is not in itself final proof that we
live by the best, most accurate model so far.
—
James Burke, The Day the Universe Changed
(book)
If Aeolus 13
Umbra has a testament of faith it can be found in the closing segment from
James Burke’s classic 1985 documentary mini-series The Day the Universe Changed, which surveyed those moments in human
history where our technology and knowledge forced our society to accept new
world views — new “truths,” if you will.
As Western
civilization has evolved, there have been small movements away from a belief in
absolute truth, where religion and faith in a deity defined and determined what
we know, to a more relativist view; however, any conclusion that society is
largely determined by relativist values is, to be frank, wrong. In fact, politically and socially the world
is as polarized and ideologically competitive with alternate world views as it
ever has been, and we need look no further than the daily news reports to see
how people of all political and religious viewpoints have seemingly become more
intractable in their positions.
The relativist view is generally shunned. It
is supposed by the Left to dilute commitment and by the Right to leave society
defenceless. In fact it renders everybody equally responsible for the structure
adopted by the group. If there is no privileged source of truth, all structures
are equally worth assessment and equally worth toleration. Relativism
neutralizes the views of extremists of all kinds. It makes science accountable
to the society from which its structure springs. It urges care to judgment
through awareness of the contextual nature of the judgmental values themselves.
— James Burke, The Day the Universe Changed (book)
Religion and
faith provide what Burke calls “certainty.” In an ever-changing world, and a
dangerous one, belief in the supernatural provides an explanation for why
things go bad, why they go wrong, and who is to blame or give credit to. The
problem with this perspective is that the faithful must philosophically bend
over backwards to explain why a god who is supposed to be in control of
creation can permit horrible disasters and tragedies to exist. Explaining that
it is simply part of some grand scheme beyond our knowledge to comprehend is
what it appears to be on the surface — a pacification to allay fears that no
one is really in charge up there. A whole religious industry has grown to
squelch those fears and keep the tithe-paying congregations in line.
But, ironically the latest product of that
way of doing things is a new instrument, a new system, that while it could make
conformity more rigid, more totalitarian, then ever before in history, could
also blow everything wide open. Because with it we could operate on the basis
that values, and standards, and ethics, and facts, and truth all depend on what
your view of the world is — and there may be as many views of that as there are
people.
And with this [holds up a computer chip] capable of keeping a tally of
millions of opinions being voiced electronically we might be able to lift the
limitations of conforming to any centralized representational form of
government originally invented because there was no way for everyone’s voice to
be heard. We might be able to give everybody unhindered, untested access to
knowledge
— James Burke, The Day the Universe Changed (TV Episode 10)
Burke is
proposing that the next phase in human development will move beyond the
confines of pigeon-holed ideological positions to a more fluid, constantly
changing playing field. The catalyst for this evolutionary step, as Burke
perceived it in 1985, was the humble computer chip. While the Internet existed in the 1980s, its use was largely limited to so-called “elite users” in
academia, government, and industry. Indeed, it was not until the development of
the Internet’s “killer app,” the World Wide Web in 1989, that its use began to
spread to the general public.
Burke’s and
other futurists’ claim that such an evolution in communications technology
would lead to telecommuting, a move away from urban areas, and a subsequent
decrease in automobile traffic has only partially come true. While the Internet
has allowed for many people to work and study at home, urban population density
and traffic congestion has only increased. Nevertheless, the power the Internet
has made available to the layperson is considerable. Individuals are now
empowered to communicate with the world, and earn money, on a scale never
before possible. Academic research that would take days to complete before the
Internet I can now complete in a matter of hours. Individuals and small
businesses now have easy access to worldwide markets. Patients can look up
their own diseases and consult with their doctors more informatively about
their treatment.
Even so, one
must also concede that the darker gifts of such mass and instantaneous
communication were not fully anticipated. Individual isolation tends to
increase. Financial scams are rampant. Racist beliefs are more widely spread.
Cyberbullying has become a social phenomenon. Criminals and terrorists more
effectively recruit and fund their activities. While some may place the blame
on technology, all it has done has been to shine a light on what was already
there. It is up to all of us, both individually and collectively as a society,
to balance our gifts with our propensity for anarchy.
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