Artificially distracted
When was the last time you sat in a waiting room, or on a bus or train, and didn’t take out your phone to pass the time? When did you last experience true silence (apart from sleeping) – a space of time completely devoid of activity and noise? If you’re like me, I’m guessing it might have been a while ago and you can’t quite pinpoint a particular moment in your mind.
Prof Stephen Williams has written an excellent article this month on the subject of artificial intelligence (AI). He comments on the kind of society we have become by saying, “…the lives of many westerners are lived in a state of permanent, breathless distraction.” He cites this kind of atmosphere as the reason for our acceptance and lack of discernment when it comes to artificial intelligence: “…we use technologies uncritically most of the time.” It is perhaps our tendency not to biblically consider these technologies that is most worrying. “Do they tend to edge God out of the picture so that we settle for and are dependent on that which is not God?”
C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, suggests that it is exactly this unthinking, distracted society that delights the devil. Screwtape, the senior demon, writes to his nephew Wormwood: “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end…The melodies and silences of heaven will be shouted down…”
Embracing silence was an important issue for Fred Rogers, an American Presbyterian minister who began a television career in the late 60s. Rogers, through his popular children’s programme, advocated for space to think and the importance of listening to and respecting others. Little known to Irish audiences, Rogers remains a national treasure in the US and is the subject of a new film starring Tom Hanks, featured in this edition. It is a slightly odd, yet utterly compelling movie that depicts how Rogers generously and graciously interacted with other people. He died in 2003 and would probably be dismayed at how our use of AI is slowly diminishing human to human contact. He once said, “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet…There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
We serve a relational God. Jesus outlined that the two most important things for us to focus on is our love for God, followed by our love for others. Whilst loving our neighbour can be a struggle or a sacrifice, it cannot be artificial. New technologies may serve many beneficial purposes but our use of them needs to be biblically thought through and measured; never replacing our opportunity to share the love of Jesus.
The Presbyterian Herald is the official magazine of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. It provides a forum for debate and discussion on a wide range of topics and aims to challenge and encourage Presbyterians, as well as inform them about what the wider Church is involved in. It has a readership in excess of 25,000 and is distributed throughout Ireland.
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