The postmodernists have been telling us for years that reality is artificially constructed, but the reality-ites keep coming up with counter evidence (annoying questions like "if there is no truth, how do you know that's a true statement?" or "what is a woman?")
Now that postmodernism has conquered STEM though, the postmodernist-geeks can fix this problem can make a virtual reality that really is artificially constructed and thus infinitely malleable, with virtual bodies are are equally malleable.
It's amazing the lengths some people will go to retain their philosophical delusions.
Now, can you think of some way to address these issues WITHOUT RELIGIOUS LEADERS admitting that they exist and are linked to how modern people (even in pews) use and misuse technology?
I can't think of a way to address them period. Not without largely abandoning the modern world. Networked technology creates a collective action problem. The only people I can think of who have solved this trap are the Amish or the Bruderhof. These cultures provide a pre-existing, closely bound collective. But atomized individuals (even most Christians are highly atomized) don't stand a chance.
Jon Haidt wrote that yesterday if you haven't seen it. It solves the collective action problem by an active parent intentionally creating a new collective. I would love to know what ripple effects come from that. Did any of those teens (or the whole group) limit technology voluntarily? Did any of their friends who did not participate alter their habits?
I wish church leaders would lead this sort of thing, but as I mentioned beforeI can't even get my homeschool coop (200+ families) to make our Monday coop days "phone free". I run homeschool seminars on teens and technology and Internet filtering and smartphone usage... and my own coop can't get on board. It's rather embarrassing actually. The kids would probably be fine with it; the moms can't handle it though. (And they're all on campus with their kids.)
I'm just not that optimistic, Terry. Collective action to implement limits on a moral basis runs 180 deg counter to our prevailing philosophy and institutions. Everything from Locke has been a push to eliminate unchosen constraints. Even inside the church -- mainline denominations abandoning centuries of Christian theology and evangelicalism abandoning denominations -- we are asserting our "right" to remake the faith (and the world) in our own image.
It will end, because systems of unreality always end. Reality always wins. But I think that's a long way off still, potentially through a transhumanist valley of death. For now, The Benedict Option is all we've got.
The postmodernists have been telling us for years that reality is artificially constructed, but the reality-ites keep coming up with counter evidence (annoying questions like "if there is no truth, how do you know that's a true statement?" or "what is a woman?")
Now that postmodernism has conquered STEM though, the postmodernist-geeks can fix this problem can make a virtual reality that really is artificially constructed and thus infinitely malleable, with virtual bodies are are equally malleable.
It's amazing the lengths some people will go to retain their philosophical delusions.
Now, can you think of some way to address these issues WITHOUT RELIGIOUS LEADERS admitting that they exist and are linked to how modern people (even in pews) use and misuse technology?
I can't think of a way to address them period. Not without largely abandoning the modern world. Networked technology creates a collective action problem. The only people I can think of who have solved this trap are the Amish or the Bruderhof. These cultures provide a pre-existing, closely bound collective. But atomized individuals (even most Christians are highly atomized) don't stand a chance.
OK. Focus in a bit. How about with kids, oh, 3-16?
https://www.afterbabel.com/p/smartphone-free-camp-trip
Jon Haidt wrote that yesterday if you haven't seen it. It solves the collective action problem by an active parent intentionally creating a new collective. I would love to know what ripple effects come from that. Did any of those teens (or the whole group) limit technology voluntarily? Did any of their friends who did not participate alter their habits?
I wish church leaders would lead this sort of thing, but as I mentioned beforeI can't even get my homeschool coop (200+ families) to make our Monday coop days "phone free". I run homeschool seminars on teens and technology and Internet filtering and smartphone usage... and my own coop can't get on board. It's rather embarrassing actually. The kids would probably be fine with it; the moms can't handle it though. (And they're all on campus with their kids.)
I'm just not that optimistic, Terry. Collective action to implement limits on a moral basis runs 180 deg counter to our prevailing philosophy and institutions. Everything from Locke has been a push to eliminate unchosen constraints. Even inside the church -- mainline denominations abandoning centuries of Christian theology and evangelicalism abandoning denominations -- we are asserting our "right" to remake the faith (and the world) in our own image.
It will end, because systems of unreality always end. Reality always wins. But I think that's a long way off still, potentially through a transhumanist valley of death. For now, The Benedict Option is all we've got.
And what we are seeking is an ESSENTIAL component of the Benedict Option. Period.