IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2017 - 24

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.
no belief in God, have to apply a
moral understanding to science
and technology. I hope they would
do this by reflecting on the mean-
ing of what it is to be human, on the
value of personhood. And I believe
that in this field it is possible, for
Christians and non-Christians, for
believers and unbelievers, to find a
large measure of common ground.
At the same time, we cannot fully
understand our limitations as fallen
human beings without reference to
our faith. So the cooperation with
the non-believer only extends to a
certain limited degree.

Can a particular technology,
for instance hardware or
software, be viewed as
being "immoral"?
One answer might be to say technol-
ogy is not in itself moral or immoral.
Technology simply tells us what is
possible for us to do. Therefore, it is
the use we make of technology that
brings us to the question of whether
a thing is moral or immoral. On the
other hand, I would want to go fur-
ther than that, to say that certain
forms of technology might in them-
selves involve a misuse of humans
or animals. I have grave reserva-
tions, for example, about experi-
ments on animals by dissection.
Many of the things that are done
in this field fail to show a proper
respect for the animals as God's
creation. So, it is not perhaps just

24

religious implications. Thus there
can be conflict when science and
technology go beyond their proper
limits, and when they do not show
respect for our personhood.

the application of tech-
nology that can be wrong
but the actual technology
itself, if it involves a wrong
use of living creatures,
humans or animals. Again,
a technology that involves
widespread
destruction
of natural resources, that
pollutes the world round
us, that too, I would say in
itself is wrong, regardless
of what this technology is
being used for. Often it must be
a question of balancing one thing
against another. All technology is
going to affect people, one way or
another. But there comes a point
where the effect is unacceptable
because it is making this world more
difficult for other humans to live in.
It is making the world unsuitable for
future generations to survive within.
Thus, one cannot make a sharp dis-
tinction between the technology in
itself and how we apply it. Perhaps
the technology itself may involve a
wrongful use of humans, animals,
or natural things; wrongful because
it makes the world somehow less
pleasant and less healthy for us to
live in.

Can technology itself become
the new religion in its quest for
singularitarianism - the belief
in a technological singularity,
where we are ultimately
becoming machines?
Yes. If we assume that science and
technology, taken together, can
answer every question and solve
every problem, that would be mak-
ing them into a new religion, and
a religion that I reject. But science
and technology do not have to
take that path. As before, I would
emphasize we have to respect cer-
tain limits, and these limits do not
come simply from science or tech-
nology. We have, that is to say, to
respect certain limits on our human
action. We can, for example, by
technology, bring people's lives to
an end. Indeed, today increasingly
we hear arguments to justify eutha-
nasia. I am not at all happy about
that as a Christian. I believe that
our life is in God's hands and we
should not decide when to end it,
still less should we decide when to
end other people's lives. Here, then,
is a very obvious use of technolo-
gy, of medical knowledge, where I
feel we are overstepping the proper
limits because we are taking into
our hands that which essentially
belongs to God.

Is religious faith in any way
threatened by technology?
If we assume a scientific approach,
that assumes that humans are sim-
ply elaborate machines, and if we
develop technologies which work
on that basis, I do think that is a
threat to our religious faith, because
of my belief in the dignity and value
of the human person. We are not
simply machines. We have been
given free will. We have the pos-
sibility to communicate with God.
So in assuming that the human
being is merely a machine, we are
going far beyond the actual facts
of science, far beyond the empiri-
cal application of technology, since
this is an assumption with deep
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

Can you comment on the
modern day quest toward
transhumanism or what
is now referred to as
posthumanism?
I do not know exactly what is meant
by posthumanism. I see the human
person as the crown and fulfilment
of God's creation. Humans have unique-
ness because they alone are made
∕

march 2017



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