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Dear Parish Faithful,
"You may love your computer, but your computer does not love you."
- Metropolitan Kallistos Ware
I more-or-less accidentally found a new book by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware while searching/surfing the internet(!). The book is entitled, Religion, Science & Technology - An Eastern Orthodox Perspective.
Actually, at 36 pages, it is hardly a book, but rather something of a booklet. Yet, in such a slim volume a writer and thinker such as Metropolitan Kallistos can say a great deal.
So, this "book" is arranged in the form of 20 interview questions coming from M.G. Michael and Katina Michael. The credentials of this married couple, listed at the end of the book, are quite extensive and impressive. Briefly, M.G. Michael holds a PHD in theology, and Katina in information and communication technology.
The 20 questions that they pose to Metropolitan Kallistos are arranged under these various headings:
- Religion, Science and Technology,
- Creation, Innovation and Technological Progress,
- Morality and Technology, and
- Mortality and Technology.
In other words, pressing and unavoidable issues for the Church in the 21st century.
Each response is quite compact, and not one is over a page long. But, as I said, Met. Kallistos always has something of significance to bring to the discussion. Significantly, the book begins by citing the story of the Tower of Babel from GEN. 11:1-6. By no means does this mean that Metropolitan is "anti-technological," but it provides a cautionary call to vigilance about the potential dangers and distortions about the careless use of technology.
It was Question #18, that the quotation above brought to an end Met. Kallistos' response. I will here reproduce the entire question and answer found on p. 26:
Q. What is so unique about our spirit which we cannot imbue or suggest into future humanoid machines?
A. The uniqueness of the human person for me is closely linked with our possession of a sense of awe and wonder; a sense of the sacred, a sense of the divine presence. As human beings we have an impulse within us that leads to pray. Indeed, prayer is our true nature as humans. Only in prayer do we become fully ourselves.
And to the qualities that I just mentioned, awe, wonder, a sense of the sacred, I would add a sense of love. Through loving other humans, through loving the animals, and loving God, we become ourselves, we become truly human. Without love we are not human.
Now, a machine however subtle does not feel love, does not pray, does not have a sense of the sacred, a sense of awe and wonder. To me these are human qualities that no machine, however elaborate, would be able to reproduce. You may love your computer but your computer does not love you. (emphasis added)
I will periodically share more of the wisdom of Metropolitan Kallistos from this thoughtful little book. For those who prefer their own copy:
https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Science-Technology-Orthodox-Perspective/dp/1741282632
