Restoration: The Limitations of Technology

Jan 2, 2006
4 minutes read time

I use Google, the biggest search engine on the Internet, just about every day, as I am sure you do. I don't even look up phone numbers in a book anymore. It is faster to "Google it." No wonder the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are the toast of Silicon Valley. They have also been named "Men of the Year" by the Financial Times.

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I use Google, the biggest search engine on the Internet, just about every day, as I am sure you do. I don't even look up phone numbers in a book anymore. It is faster to "Google it." No wonder the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, are the toast of Silicon Valley. They have also been named "Men of the Year" by the Financial Times. Technology is a wonderful thing. I am glad to be alive in this age and have access to the Internet, computers and all the wonders the microchip has brought to our world. The promise this technology holds for us is in many ways immeasurable. This massive computing power applied to the challenges facing our world holds out hope that solutions can be found that will improve the everyday lives of the world's poor. Technology is being harnessed to prepare for a possible avian flu outbreak. A supercomputer at Los Alamos, New Mexico, is running simulations showing how fast and in what patterns an outbreak would spread. The hope is to quickly get a handle on a coming outbreak and lessen the overall impact. Can it be done? Possibly. One certainly hopes so. Back to the inventors of Google. Brin and Page are in their early 30s and filled with energy and ambition. They have gone against the grain of computing to get this far. Their goal with their search engine seems to be to rival the human brain in speed and capacity. A Financial Times article quotes Brin saying that the human brain is "proof of how [search] can be better." This slice of biological computing power is "very easy to use, in a sense, and it's very quick, and it's much faster than the way human/computer interactions work today ... So it's clear there's no inherent ceiling we're hitting upon" (Dec. 23, 2005, p. 13). Can a computer search engine match the power of the human brain? What kind of world would that create? I have a deep concern whenever I read such boasts from science. Because humanity achieves what was once impossible, it is increasingly impressed by what its hands have made and less impressed by what God's hands have made. Frankly, I don't think man will ever create anything to match what God, the Creator of life, built into the human mind and body. Yes, I believe that God is the intelligent Designer and Creator of all life on this planet. As I see the continuing efforts to remove, bar and forbid the teaching or mention of God or Jesus Christ in the public forum, I have a greater concern about how mankind responds to the rise of science and technology. If, in looking to technology, we stop looking to God, we are headed into a box canyon with no escape. Technology is growing exponentially and impacting our daily lives in more ways than we realize. The cost of data storage has become so inexpensive that it is feasible to preserve every form of communication, both verbal and written, we produce. That can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the values of those who have access and control of those records. That is the double-edged sword technology produces. A world of science and technology without a core reliance on God creates a bleak existence. As people become dependent on scientific and technical achievements to the exclusion of the true spiritual values, we are in danger of creating a world without God. When that happens, we will find ourselves without hope. We will be very close to what we see described in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. In an attempt at self-deification, humans attempted to build a tower to the heavens, in defiance of God's will. God would not permit this to continue, and He confused the languages and scattered the people. The Bible prophesies about a wealthy, probably highly technological system called "Babylon the great" (Revelation 18). It will be a system without a soul and will meet its doom at the return of Christ. God will not let this system bring an end to human life. Technology has an important role in our world. But we should understand its limitations in discovering the deep spiritual truths that provide the missing dimension to life. For that we must rely on God and His revelation. Our free booklet What Is Your Destiny? is a good place to start your study to find the purpose of your life. WNP
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Darris McNeely

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.