Technology as God

Neil Postman’s Technopoly is about God. Postman’s pen provocatively engages me on every page. He insightfully thinks through the relationship of technology and culture. To be more accurate and poignant, he shows that technology has become our master, and is now destroying our culture and building a new one – bigger, faster, more efficient - and totally meaningless. Technology, now bowed down to and anointed with oil, is treated as both mysterious and awesome. The illuminating portrait Postman paints about technology is eerily fascinating and I am filled with terror and excitement at thinking thoughts after him. The conclusion he reveals is that technology, the way we think about it – nay, even with it, the way we use it, hope in it, and mindlessly adopt anything new, faster, and cheaper is nothing less than the deification of technology to our own destruction.

You really should read this book, regardless of age, job, or interest – it is that important. Are you an educator? Go out and buy it today. Are you a parent? You and your spouse need to read this and ponder how your family culture uses…or could be being USED by technology. Are you a businessman, policeman, pastor, painter, or college student? In other words, if you’re a thoughtful person who cares about restoring virtue to your family and community, get this book and eat it up. I’ve only gobbled a few morsels and it is filling and satisfying.

I entertain here two brief stories to illustrate our culture’s surrender to technology, hence a motivation to read this book, as well as to offer my way out of the maze.

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