Section A • Page 10
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, July 26, 2000
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Technology and religion share strange similarities
Previous generations have dealt with mixed relationships based on ethnicity, class and religion; now so am I.
But my struggle, while unusual, is just as poignant — technology.
The Digital Divide — the growing disparity between the wired world's haves and have-nots — has received a lot of media attention lately. But it affects me deeply in a personal way.
I'm wired, my fiance is not.
In a couple where one "has religion" and the other
I'm wired, my fiancée is not
In a couple where one "has religion" and the other does not, the one "with" usually tries to persuade the other to convert. Our relationship
other to convert. Our relationship is no different.
My better half has dutifully made the effort to learn about email, instant message technology and the Web. She even took a KU class about technology.
She will convert, if for no other reason, to be able to communicate with me.
But as you may have observed from my past columns, I look at the world through dotcom-colored glasses. And it is from that perspective that I have observed some eerie parallels between technology and religion. I am not suggesting that technology is a substitute for religion or that it will be replaced in an Aldous Huxley-like way, just that there are some strange similarities.
Juan H.
Heath
write@kansan.com
Big Blue was what it was. Business computing made the transition to the home.
In the beginning, there was IBM, and personal computers were mainstream goodness.
but IBM has never had to recruit people to use its equipment; it stands upon its reputation alone.
My perception is that this is like Judaism.
Based upon a conversation with a former Kansan staff member who was Jewish, I learned that members of the Jewish faith do not proselytize (recruit).
Judaism is the oldest and in a way the foundation of the three major monotheistic religions of the world. IBM also can be viewed as the foundation and innovator in computing technology.
Then from IBM came the great technological beehm, Microsoft, and its charismatic leader Bill Gates. Now just go with me for a minute on this — Microsoft has taken some aspects of IBM and improved upon them, and rejected others.
Part of Christianity is based upon Judaism. Christianity emphasized some aspects and rejected others.
Just as early Christians were persecuted by the leaders of the time, Microsoft has been the subject of government scrutiny lately. But more eriec than this
is the fanatical devotion of Windows users.
Windows is the only way to go, and the only operating system worth having. You either use Windows or you are technologically inferior—you are viewed as an outsider in business.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak haven't claimed to be anything different, despite their ad campaign that states, "Think Different."
Their original machine was built in a garage from the parts of other computers. "The Steves" were merely "correcting" the computing mistakes made by their competitors.
Muslims believe that their founder, Mohammed, was not introducing anything new, but was taking the Bible and the Torah, and "refocusing" their deviations in the Koran.
The other weird parallel I've noticed is the reverence with which people refer to Redmond, Wash., and to Cupertino, Calif. — the headquarters of Microsoft and Apple, respectively.
This vaguely makes me think of the pilgrimages that religious folks take to Jerusalem or Mecca to reinforce their beliefs.
Maybe, maybe not.
But if Saturn owners go to Spring Hill, Tenn., to see where their cars are made, doesn't it stand to reason that techies would travel to the technological centers of their Universes?
My last impression on this whole religion/technology thing is that people who are not "religious" are generally looked down upon by those who are.
When someone tells me that he doesn't have an email address or that she doesn't own a computer, my first thought is, "What kind of backward cretin are you?"
Pagans? Heathens? Non-wired? Same difference.
Heath is a Paola senior in history and has taken a Web job in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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