The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention

290 Pages·1999·1.912 MB·English

by  David F. Noble

ALSO BY DAVID F. NOBLE
America by Design:
Science, Technology, and
the Rise of Corporate Capitalism
Forces of Production:
A Social History of
Industrial Automation
A World Without Women:
The Christian Clerical Culture
of Western Science
Progress Without People:
New Technology, Unemployment
and the Message of Resistance

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC.
Copyright © 1997 by David F. Noble
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published
in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
http://www.randomhouse.com/
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Noble, David F.
The religion of technology: the divinity of man and the spirit of invention / by David F.
Noble. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-82853-8
1. Technology—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Religion and Science. 3. Presence of
God. I. Title.
BR115.T4N63 1997
261.5′6—dc21 96-48019
v3.1
FOR SOPHIE TENZER NOBLE
This, then, is what the arts are concerned with, this is what they
intend, namely, to restore within us the divine likeness.
—
HUGH OF ST. VICTOR
We are agreed, my sons, that you are men. That means, as I think,
that you are not animals on their hind legs, but mortal gods.
—
FRANCIS BACON
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Technology and Religion
INTRODUCTION
PART I TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSCENDENCE
The Divine Likeness
CHAPTER 1
Millennium: The Promise of Perfection
CHAPTER 2
Visions of Paradise
CHAPTER 3
Paradise Restored
CHAPTER 4
Heavenly Virtuosi
CHAPTER 5
The New Adam
CHAPTER 6
The New Eden
CHAPTER 7
PART II TECHNOLOGIES OF TRANSCENDENCE
Armageddon: Atomic Weapons
CHAPTER 8
The Ascent of the Saints: Space Exploration
CHAPTER 9
The Immortal Mind: Artificial Intelligence
CHAPTER 10
Powers of Perfection: Genetic Engineering
CHAPTER 11
The Politics of Perfection
CONCLUSION
Appendix. A Masculine Millennium: A Note on Technology
and Gender
Notes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the following people for inspiring, instructing,
and otherwise indulging me during the course of this effort: Phil Agre,
Andrew Chaiken, Tracy Clemenger, Ted Daniels, Ashbel Green, Bert
Hall, Sandra Harding, Stefan Helmreich, David Hess, Tom Hughes,
Andrew Kimbrell, Jeff Kruse, Roger Launius, Kevin McGuire, Leonard
Minsky, Mary Jo O’Connor, George Ovitt, J. D. Pipher, Lee Saegesser,
Jan Sapp, Daniel Schenker, Don Stevens, and especially Douglas
Noble, Mary Ann O’Connor, and Margaret Wertheim. I would also like
gratefully to acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.
INTRODUCTION
TECHNOLOGY AND RELIGION
We in the West confront the close of the second Christian
millennium much as we began it, in devout anticipation of doom and
deliverance, only now our medieval expectations assume a more
modern, technological expression. It is the aim of this book to
demonstrate that the present enchantment with things technological
—the very measure of modern enlightenment—is rooted in religious
myths and ancient imaginings. Although today’s technologists, in
their sober pursuit of utility, power, and profit, seem to set society’s
standard for rationality, they are driven also by distant dreams,
spiritual yearnings for supernatural redemption. However dazzling
and daunting their display of worldly wisdom, their true inspiration
lies elsewhere, in an enduring, other-worldly quest for transcendence
and salvation.
With the approach of the new millennium, we are witness to two
seemingly incompatible enthusiasms, on the one hand a widespread
infatuation with technological advance and a confidence in the
ultimate triumph of reason, on the other a resurgence of
fundamentalist faith akin to a religious revival. The coincidence of
these two developments appears strange, however, merely because we
mistakenly suppose them to be opposite and opposing historical
tendencies.