I just watched the Productivity Future Vision video for/by Microsoft.
It’s the classic Utopian future where everything is super thin, ultra clean and really glossy.
It’s a fairly long video, but really interesting.
As I watched it I thought, “Man, it doesn’t seem like we’re too far away from this.”
Is this the future?
(If you’re an Apple fanboi, just pretend everything has an Apple logo on it, the concept is still the same.)
[tentblogger-youtube a6cNdhOKwi0]
If this is the future, the future is cold.
As much as Facebook, Twitter and Skype “connect” us, nothing actually touches. The man giving a donation to the India musician in another part of the world, sure, that’s cool, but there was no real connection. Just a brief digital display. There was a touchscreen, but no touch.
Jesus touched people.
A mother and daughter talked about recipes and baking a pie, but they were “worlds away” from each other.
Again, there was connection, but no touch.
A browse through the fridge even took on a whole new dimension (or maybe less of a dimension).
Where did that food come from, anyway?
Reality
The problem with becoming so virtual is we can lose our reality. We lose our humanity.
Would the man in India playing a song really have a device to receive a payment?
Is the future without poverty? Who’s going to assemble these devices in the future?
And where did those bananas on the kitchen come from?
Someone had to pick those. Someone had to grow them. Someone had to care for them as they grew. Someone had to touch them.
Savior
I love Sci-Fi. I love technology. I’ve written a butt load of posts about technology.
But, it won’t save us.
Google isn’t the answer. Siri won’t answer your prayers. And despite the rumors, there is a real hell.
As Church technologists, let’s keep our eyes where they belong and use these wires and plastic to build the Kingdom of God, not some ideological Babylonian Utopia.
[via Rough Type]
Chad Orlikowski says
This isn’t a Christian worldview, but here’s an interesting rebuttal to Microsoft’s vision: http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/
Eric Dye says
Love. This.
Peter says
“As Church technologists, let’s keep our eyes where they belong and use these wires and plastic to build the Kingdom of God, not some ideological Babylonian Utopia.” Amen to that!
I think it really is so easy for us tech geeks and nerds to get blindsided and make it about technology instead of about Jesus. I know that I have been guilty of this in the past, but thank God, He showed me the errors of my ways 🙂
Technology doesn’t save but Jesus sure does!
Eric Dye says
You, sir, are awesome.
Ken says
I am fascinated. I’d love to see some of those capabilities, for example: seeing what’s in the fridge without opening it. Think of the power saved over time.
Yet, as you say, it’s so cold and slick. I perceive a growing hunger in people for organic (or whatever you want to call it) human connection. This partly explains the multiplication of cozy little tea shops and coffee bars. People need real, not virtual.
Technology is seductive. That means we have to be on guard!
Eric Dye says
True story.