Every now and again something happens to us that lets us dream new dreams. The invention of the printing press, the European discovery of America, the industrial revolution, the emergence of democracy, going to the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall . . . we can all think of examples. The interesting thing about all these changes is that, as well as their immediate practical impact, they each opened up new visions of what we have in us to be, or do. Each, too, has its dark side; dreams are not unequivocally 'good' or 'bad' in a simple way. Most people would agree that the impact of computers, and the programs that run on them, what we call information technology (IT), is similarly profound - they are truly dream machines. Computers are willy-nilly changing the society we live in, for good or ill, or perhaps for both. Whether we like it or not, computers present us with new moral and, yes, spiritual choices, especially when they are connected together in cyberspace. Ignoring these choices does not mean they will not get made: they will simply be made by others, or perhaps be made by default.
Our purpose is to encourage an informed awareness about these changes, to encourage users of the technology to reflect on its meaning for them, and to think about how it may serve their needs. Our aim is not to evangelize on behalf of the technology, proclaiming what great things computers are, and how much all our readers need one (if they do not have one), or need a newer, smarter, more powerful one (if they already have one). Plenty of people do that already! Nor is it to decry the technology as such. There is no clear and simple answer to be given to the question whether IT or the Internet are 'good things', though people may (and do) do good things with them. The overriding concern is that we see the technologies discussed in the light of human good and human flourishing.
Of course, any technological advance opens up new avenues. So what is different about computers? We suggest several ways in which computers are distinctively different from most technological advances.
First, their use is pervasive. A new kind of life jacket is important for sailors and canoeists, but it is not going to affect the lives of many of us directly. In contrast, computers reach every corner of our lives. Cash machines, anti-lock brakes, microwave ovens, toasters, watches, mobile phones, video recorders, direct-line insurance, supermarket checkouts, personal letter-writing . . . the list goes on.
Second, their impact is profound. There comes a point when technology makes a qualitative change to the way we live, rather than just a quantitative one. In particular, computers affect our relationships with each other. Electronic mail, ubiquitous mobile phones, video conferencing, Internet chat rooms, personal web sites, bulletin boards each give us a new way of relating to each other. These new forms of communication profoundly affect our social fabric. Geographically dispersed special interest groups can form, which would otherwise be impossible. Email is wonderful because it makes it possible to contact someone quickly but without requiring them to be available at the precise moment of the call . . . and terrible too because it is so easy to send 'spam' mail to hundreds of thousands of unwilling recipients.
Computers affect how we think of ourselves, and what we think of as real. Computers have always been engaging, even addictive, to some. As they become more sophisticated, that appeal becomes more widespread. A great deal of effort goes into creating 'virtual reality' worlds, sometimes for entertainment, sometimes for more prosaic purposes (such as letting an architect 'walk through' an unbuilt building). The outcome is to blur the boundary between us and the machine.
All of this raises interesting philosophical questions, but our interest here is more pragmatic: how do computers affect us, as individuals, and in our relationships with others, and in our relationship with God?
Computers are unusual in having both these qualities. Hamburgers, for example, are pervasive, but do not have a profound impact. Artificial hip replacement has a profound impact on the lives of those it affects directly, but is not pervasive. Computers are both. Not only that, but the best, or worst, is yet to come. So far the impact of computers has been more profound than pervasive. We do not yet have essentially free communication of really large quantities of information over very large distances. There is not yet a satellite dish in every Indian village. Truly immersive virtual reality systems are still expensive and cartoon-like. Information about us as individuals is still distributed among a thousand incompatible databases. But these things will change, and in ways that no one can accurately predict.
Beyond this, computers have a third extraordinary, even unique, characteristic: they transcend familiar physical limits. Much of the world we are used to is governed, in one way or another, by physical limits. Computers and digital communication networks do away with many such limits; in particular, they make it possible to copy, manipulate and transmit digital information essentially for nothing. This ability has complex and unpredictable consequences.
In what way are computers 'dream machines'? Dreams can express our aspirations, our hopes and longings. Dreams are also things that we never fully control. Computers belong to dream worlds in at least these two ways: they help us realize possibilities (fulfil our dreams), and they (like most technology) appear to develop a power all of their own, to become dreams we 'inhabit'. Computers multiply human effort to a sometimes extraordinary degree (examples). Some of the 'good' things in the list are 'good' largely because of other changes which have made them seem necessary, have made them good. Once upon a time, the insurance agent would have known all the customers on the firm's books, and dealt with them personally. Moving to systems with less personal contact, where the relationship is directly with a firm rather than the person, may be cheaper, and that is a benefit, but it is not a benefit without a cost. All technologies have at once extended and limited people. Books, for example, encourage sharing ideas, and they also provide a substitute for human memory. Who needs to memorize a song if it is in the songbook? Books have helped to change our culture from one where older people were esteemed for their knowledge of tradition and folk memory to one where these skills are no longer so valued. It is probably too early to say what cyberspace will displace, and indeed whether we might regret its passing. It's not clear, either, whether the loss of memory skills is such a bad cost to pay for the vast benefits of books. However, stories from books - verses from the Bible - can fill the minds of people when they can no longer read, and give them sustenance in a society that may give them little else, and we have lost that. In short, one of the most daunting things about computers is that they are so terribly good and so terribly bad at the same time. Neutral they are not.
Technology is a means to fulfil our dreams, but how do we select which dreams? The question of whether a technology will actually work (whether it will do what we want it to) is, after all, distinct from whether the end is good. We need to reflect upon this basic question, because it runs to the heart of some of the most difficult debates we are facing. More precisely, we believe that computers present us with a whole raft of moral dilemmas, some old ones in new guises and some new ones. These dilemmas arise for several reasons:
1. Old questions appear in a new light, and our existing intellectual and legal frameworks for presenting the issues do not scale to the new situation. We can see that there are questions about how things ought to be done, and that the answers to those questions matter. However, our tools for handling these questions seem to lack purchase on the material we are dealing with; they were designed for other contexts. To take just one example, national laws don't work well in cyberspace, which knows no borders.
2. New dilemmas arise from the new technological possibilities that computers offer.If the transmission of data is absolutely safe and secure, beyond any possibility of interception, all sorts of dangerous possibilities may be opened up. How should we handle them? Should we restrict the availability of the encryption technology? (See Chapter 6.)
3. We have to grapple with whole new moral dimensions. While we can describe the new situations and possibilities we are presented with, we are not yet able to evaluate them.
4. It's all happening so fast. It takes a while to digest, debate, and form opinions about a new moral question, and time to learn from experience. Yet it seems that we hardly have time to appreciate the complexities of one, still less agree about what to do about it, before the next one is upon us.
The interesting thing about computers is that they force us to re-evaluate significant areas of our shared moral consensus. Not only that, but they force us to do so so much faster than usual that our established mechanisms for evolving a new consensus are left far behind. (examples). In each case, the pervasive influence of computers forces us to address moral questions. But since these questions fall outside the territory of our shared consensus we have to figure out right and wrong all over again. That in turn requires us to have a moral framework, and that is where Christians have something to offer.
It is the purpose of this book to provide the reader with some tools with which to tackle the moral and spiritual questions raised by computer use. Since the book was written by a group of Christians it is to that tradition we have naturally turned. It has been our experience in the rest of our lives that insights from the Bible and other parts of the Christian tradition can give us both a moral framework and the sense of identity that are necessary to equip us to deal with new moral challenges as they arise. It is our belief and hope that non-Christians will also have much to gain from this approach.