Welcome back to Trial by Wire! My name is Denton, and today, we're going to do a little foundation-building. The idea behind this podcast is to talk about computers, but also to talk about how to use them well. In order to do that, we need to understand what "using them well" means, which we're going to call "ethics". Merriam-Webster defines this as "a set of moral principles"
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a practicing Christian, and I have been my entire life. The lens through which I view ethics is my faith. I'm going to spend this episode explaining the basis for which I'm going to make comments on technology going forward. I completely understand if you don't agree with everything I say - in fact, I expect that from a lot of you, and I welcome your discussion on these points. However, you might be surprised by how much we agree on.
I'm including this episode because our beliefs impact the decisions and value judgments we make. Whether you agree or disagree with my assessments of various technologies will depend in part on your agreement or disagreement with the points I raise this episode. Knowing those answers will help you think more deeply about these topics. I will say that my beliefs are not necessarily representative of all Christians. Christianity is broken into many, many different subsets who disagree on several things. However, I'll try to use tenets which are fairly universal to Christianity as a whole.
First, let's consider how we think about others. My first tenet in this area is that humans have inherent value. Genesis 1:26a says "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'" By the way, I'm quoting from the English Standard Version for all of these. God chose humanity out of all of His creation to bear His likeness; every one of us is a picture of God. On top of that, God the Son came down and took on our likeness for 33 years, then sacrificed His life for us. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." God values us so highly that Jesus' life is the price He sets. This means that every human life has incredible value, even more than any one of us can give it.
Why is that important? The value of humanity is pretty key for any form of ethics to work. If your own life has no value, nothing that happens to you matters. If others' lives have no value, nothing that you do to them matters. Now, there are other systems of ethics which leverage forms of value - social contract theory, for example, says that people value their own lives enough to live under a government and agree to certain rules instead of constantly fighting with their neighbors for survival. However, if the value of a human life comes from some source other than ourselves, it's that much stronger. I can't tell you that your life doesn't matter if I have no say in how much your life is worth. You can't even say that your own life doesn't matter because Someone Else has already given it priceless value. There's a lot of comfort in that, in my opinion.
That leads directly to my next point: treating others unfairly is wrong. Matthew 7:12, often called the "Golden Rule", quotes Jesus as saying "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." When we perform selfish actions that negatively impact others, whether it's as small as cutting in line or as big as hacking bank accounts, we are internally devaluing the lives of others in favor of our own. But remember: the value of a life is set by Someone Else, not us. Honoring the value of others' lives means treating them with the same respect that we treat our own lives.
Why is that important? My main inspiration for my work on ethics and computer science has been watching people being taken advantage of online. I can remember reading about the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal I mentioned during Episode 0 during my undergrad and being angry for all of the people whose data was being stolen out from under them. Scams involving stealing money by deceiving people to get their information (often called "phishing scams") tend to target the elderly and their large retirement funds. It's infuriating, but the people who initiate these kinds of scams don't seem to think it's wrong. Using negative impact on others as a metric can help us identify technologies which we need to be careful with.
Conversely, actively working for the betterment of others is good. Jesus goes beyond his initial statement in Matthew with the following from Luke 6:35: "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil." Remember that the value of a human life is incredibly high. Having a positive impact on others and taking active steps to do good thIngs to them is being aware of and respecting that high value.
Now, why is that important? I included this point primarily for developers - we should work to build applications which improve users' lives first and foremost. But it's also important for users. Using technology well may mean choosing certain technologies over others not because it's flashier or easier to use, but because of the impacts it has on other people. It may also mean choosing to use technology in certain ways and not in others. As a small example, choosing to text someone who prefers texting to calling, even though you may be more comfortable with calling, is a use of technology which positively impacts someone else.
Obviously, there's a lot of nuance here I'm not getting into. The intent of an action matters as well as its impact, and understanding the true impact of an action in our interconnected world is difficult. But adhering to these tenets gives us a starting point to talk about the ethicality of a piece of technology.
Now, let's consider how we think about technology. This is a little harder since computers are not directly mentioned in the Bible (for obvious reasons), but I think we can pull some general principles and apply them.
First, technology is a result of divinely-inspired minds. We know that God is a creator. Genesis 1:1 says very clearly: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." We know that He is creative because we can see the incredible beauty of the earth and the universe. Psalm 147:8 says "He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills." And since we know that we are made in His image, we know that we are creators as well.
But, what does it mean to be a creator? We can't speak atoms into existence, but we can work with our hands to make new things from what He gave us. In Exodus, God tells Moses about a craftsman, Bezalel, whom He has designated to help build the Tabernacle. Exodus 31:3 says: "and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship". God gave Bezalel the engineering and artistic mind that he needed to produce God's home with the Israelites.
What does this mean? Even though modern technology is often produced by secular companies, the ability to craft and create technology comes from God. Similarly, the ability to leverage existing technology to craft and create something for a business, for art, or just for personal use also comes from God. If you can use Microsoft Excel, you can thank God for your ability to do so.
However, as we well know, technology is also the result of fallen minds. Man's schemes against God are mentioned frequently in the Bible. The very first command that God gives man right after creating him is in Genesis 1:28: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it". But, instead of spreading out and filling the earth, humans chose to try to use technology to stay put and grow strong together. From Genesis 11:3-4: "And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." Humans used the ancient technologies of brick-making and city-building and their God-given minds to attempt to defy God. I like the way the pastor of Lakepointe Church, Josh Howerton, puts it: "whatever God creates, Satan counterfeits."
What does this mean? The fact that humans with minds created by God have made something does not automatically make it good. In fact, it often makes it NOT good. We have to be careful that we don't use our God-given abilities and the technology others have created to do bad things, even unintentionally.
A piece of technology can be used for good AND for evil. There are very few inventions that are only used for good actions or bad actions. The Roman road system which helped spread Christianity during the Roman Empire also helped the Empire commit its atrocities. Pitchforks are used both for farming and for angry mobs. What's important is how the technology is used.
For today's homework, I want you to think about how you agree or disagree with my points. How do your beliefs tell you to think about others? How do your beliefs tell you to think about technology? Like I said at the start of these episodes, these answers will impact whether you agree or disagree with my assessments of technology going forward. And again, I welcome your discussion and disagreements. Think about that, and I'll see you next time.
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