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Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living: Wired for Technology, Instructions Not Included

Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living: Wired for Technology, Instructions Not Included. The pool at Bethesda, John 5:2-8 Jonathan D. Quick CCIH Annual Conference, May 23-25, 2009. LAST YEAR - Leading Health Organizations in 2008: Lessons from God's First Century Leadership Team.

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Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living: Wired for Technology, Instructions Not Included

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  1. Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living: Wired for Technology, Instructions Not Included The pool at Bethesda, John 5:2-8 Jonathan D. Quick CCIH Annual Conference, May 23-25, 2009

  2. LAST YEAR - Leading Health Organizations in 2008: Lessons from God's First Century Leadership Team

  3. Leading Health Organizations in 2008: Lessons from God's First Century Leadership Team Teams that lead: • Are aligned around a compelling vision and shared values. The Great Commission, Matthew 28:19; The Great Commandments, Matthew 22: 37-39 • Are strengthened through diversity in skills and backgrounds.  One body, many parts, 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31 • Grow by embracing challenges. Trials and Temptations, James 2: 1-5

  4. THIS YEAR - Technology for Health in 2009 In case you fall asleep during this year’s “sermon” • Wired for Technology – God has blessed humankind with boundless creative capacity to develop technologies for health, which allow us to follow in Jesus’ healing footsteps. • Instructions Not Included – Humankind is at the same time cursed with a propensity to develop or use new technologies in ways that separate us, create inequalities, and undermine our humanity. • Biblical Wisdom – Scripture is silent on “nanotechnology”, “cloning”, other new technologies. But there is a great deal of Biblical wisdom to guide our responsible development and application of new technologies . For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

  5. Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living Wired for Technology Instructions Not Included Biblical Wisdom

  6. Technologies for health – what are we talking about • Digital Technologies • Communications – cell phone, Skype, Go-to-Meeting • Social networking – Facebook, MySpace • Information technologies – e-records, on-line databases • Decision technologies – D-tree, others • Medical and Bio Technologies • Medicines & vaccines • Surgical innovations • Cybernetics & nanotechnology • Xenotransplantation, transgenics

  7. The history of technologies for health – what our wiring for technology has produced First Millennia • 7000 BC, dental surgery • 2600 BC, surgical suture • 500 BC, cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery • 1000, cataract extraction • 1796, vaccination • 1846, general anesthetic • 1865, antiseptic • 1895, X-ray Century of Modern Medicine/s • 1900, aspirin • 1928, penicillin • 1940’s, large scale use of antibiotics and vaccines • 1957, artificial pacemaker • 1967, heart transplant • 1973, CAT scan • 1982, artificial heart • 1996, highly active antiretroviral therapy

  8. Democratizing information – from parchment to printing press to internet • Pre-printing press • 1000’s of monks in 100’s of monasteries • Skilled monk = 1200-1300 pp /year • Books only for the wealthy  • Gutenberg press, 1450 • Team of 20 = 5 million pages/years • Martin Luther’s German Bible,1522 • Price low enough for even a poor farmer • “Printing made the Protestant Reformation possible”

  9. New technologies are democratizing health care as the printing press democratized information . “. . . traditional paternalistic relationships between patients and doctors are being undermined in much the same way as the religious Reformation of the 16th century empowered the laity and threatened the 1,000-year old hierarchy of the Catholic church in Europe. The Reformation had irreversible consequences for Western society; the implications of the healthcare reformation could also be profound.” Joanne Shaw, British Medicine Journal, 2009

  10. Detecting and mapping disease outbreaks – web-crawling, mapping monitoring (NEJM, May 21, 2009) Swine flu cases as of May 22, 2009

  11. Improving front-line decision-making Use of PDA’s for follow-up assessment and counseling for AIDS treatment (www.d-tree.org)

  12. The future of technologies for health– what our wiring for technology may produce The “Biotech Century”? • Animal-grow replacement organs for 50% of humans awaiting transplant • “Transgenic vegetables” for vaccines in poor countries • Biological, protein-based computer 1000’s times faster • Control of aging and obesity • Human-level computingpower

  13. Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living Wired for Technology Instructions Not Included Biblical Wisdom

  14. Instructions not included Undermining our social fabric and social well-being • Loss of personal control – Internet Addiction Disorder • Loss of childhood – Neil Postman • Sexting • Blogging run amok – “Tourette’s blogging”

  15. Instructions not included Techno-abuse / techno-crime • Digital medical records  loss of privacy • Artificial insemination  “human husbandry” • Organ transplants  organ trafficking • Biomedical research  manmade epidemics?

  16. Instructions not included Encroaching on our humanity • Biogenetics – “Human husbandry” • Human enhancement technologies • Cybernetics • Cloning of humans www.clonaid.com

  17. Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living Wired for Technology Instructions Not Included Biblical Wisdom

  18. Instructions not included - How then should we react to new technologies for health? Three views • Optimism • Extropianism, Transhumanism, Techno-utopianism • Pessimism • Luddite, Neo-luddism, Anarcho-Primitivism, Bioconservatism • Realism • Appropriate technology, Echnocriticism, Technorealism

  19. Biblical Wisdom – How we manage technology depends on what we believe about origins of technology What is the origin of technology? • Natural mechanism • Human capacity • Divine gift Adapted from: Children of Prometheus, Technology and the Good Life, The Trinity Forum, 2006

  20. Biblical Wisdom – The desire to create new technologies is God-give and inherently good • The desire to create is part being in God’s image • Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; - Exodus 1: 26-27 • The desire to heal follows Christ’s example • 27 of Jesus’ 37 miracles were healing (23) or raising from the dead (3) • In Matthew and Mark, a healing was the first reported miracle • Creation of new technology can glorify God • So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31 • Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights… James 1:17 Adapted from: Martin LaBar: “Technology: some biblical basics” http://sunandshield.blogspot.com/2005/03/technology-some-biblical-basics.html(accessed May 9, 2009)

  21. Biblical Wisdom  - with our focus on God the right attitude toward technology will follow • Worship God • Worship God, not technology – don’t let technology be a wedge • Worshipping idols – Isaiah 44:9-2 • Credit God • Credit God, not our own prideful sense of accomplishment • The king’s pride in Babylon – Daniel 4:30-32  • God sets our limits • Presuming there are no limits to human ability is wrong • Builders of the tower of Babel – Genesis 11:5-9 • God’s rules still apply – even in cyberspace & nanospace • The Golden Rule – Mark 12:31 • The Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21 Adapted from: Martin LaBar: “Technology: some biblical basics” http://sunandshield.blogspot.com/2005/03/technology-some-biblical-basics.html(accessed May 9, 2009)

  22. Biblical Wisdom– “76 Reasonable Questions to ask about any technology” (Jacques Ellul) • ECOLOGICAL: effects on health of planet and people? • SOCIAL: connect people, strengthen bonds? • PRACTICAL: is the benefit really worth it? • MORAL: what is gained or lost by the individual, by society? • ETHICAL: will it compromise values, lead to control of others? • VOCATIONAL: will it create or reduce life-enhancing work? • METAPHYSICAL: does it reflect aspects of our higher selves? • POLITICAL: does it concentrate or equalize power? • AESTHETIC: Does it create ugliness or annoyance? Adapted from: http://www.thewords.com/articles/ellul76quest.htm (accessed May 11, 2009); http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/nine-questions-ask-about-any-technology (accessed May 22, 2009

  23. Biblical Wisdom for Digital Living Wired for Technology Instructions Not Included Biblical Wisdom

  24. ConclusionsNew technologies for health are inevitable As bottom-up digital medicine arrives in full force, it will at last provide reformers with the tools they need to tackle the great healthcare challenges of this century: dealing with the cost of chronic care for the ageing populations of the rich world and helping the weak health systems in poor countries tackle deadly diseases. The Economist, April 18, 2009

  25. Conclusions - Our stewardship of these technologies is essential For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

  26. Thank you Acknowledgements We are most grateful to Jim Longhurst, Joe Krivakas, Andy, Mills, Dan Russ, and Sharon Franzen their encouragement and rich suggestions for this presentation Title Slide: The Pool of Bethesda by William Hogarth (1697-1764) http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/hogarth/p-hogart15.htm Closing Slide:

  27. “All the other domain names were taken”

  28. History of Technology 501 Quiz – the answers • How many years ago did our human ancestors first use tools? 2.5 million years in Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia • Which of the following species uses “tools” : a. homo sapiens b. dolphins c. crows d. chimpanzees All of the above • When was the first dental drill used? 7000 BC, Indus Valley Civilization 4. How many: a. hand-copied pages per year could a hand-working 15th century monk produce? 1200 b. printed pages per craftsman could a 16th printing press produce? 250,000

  29. History of Technology 501 Quiz – the answers • How much clean-up time does an automatic dishwasher save? 1 minute per clean-up 6. How much does the world spend each year on: a. Fighting AIDS? $10 billion (2007) b. Video games? $35 billion (2005 7. How many year elapsed: a. between discovery that lime juice prevents scurvy and its introduction in the British navy? ~250 years b. between the launch of Viagra and sale to 10 million patients? 3 years

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