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> I really dislike these posts that are clearly written by someone
unfamiliar with religion as a topic I wonder how much academic familiarity one really needs to recognise
the rather obvious vernacular effects. I've studied religion and mass
communication effects somewhat as well as being a practising
Christian, and as I see it the word "religion" commonly applies to the
orthodoxy and its big, visible impacts that are social and
psychological, rather than the personal, spiritual realm of gnostic
metaphysical faith. The OP seems right in the sense that the SV technology cargo cult has
all the bad mind-narrowing sides of orthodoxy and none of the
good. Observe; suspension of critical thinking, credulity,
superstition, arcane symbolism, charismatic leaders, secret knowledge,
obsessive rituals and tics, insularity, smug self-righteous and
strident proselytising, attacking and denigrating "unbelievers",
defensiveness, fear of exclusion, dehumanisation of others, mass
hysteria.... Digital tech (smartphones plus corporate social media), as presently
configured, presses all the same buttons for psychological and
societal harm that cults have for millennia. Moreover, it so pitifully
fails to offer any positive social benefits, like a sense of real
community, shared values, comfort and stability, or certainty. Instead
it overlays a shallow and unreal facsimile of those things. "Idolatry"
is probably a great way to frame it. Like historical religions it spawns a super-wealthy elite who exploit
the confused masses. It has a small cadre of extremely vocal "true
believers", disciples and acolytes, who cajole and bully along the
enormous middle mass who are actually ambivalent "pretenders",
technological agnostics who mostly can't be bothered to argue. They go
along to get along, to avoid feeling persecuted ("left behind" - the
modern equivalent of Hell). Real religions may span thousands of years and have subtantial
continuity, but cult-tech presents a flimsy facade of being "deep,
essential, enduring and universal". In reality, any thoughtful
computer scientist can tell you, it's a heterogeneous assemblage of
the arbitrary or, as Graeber observed, a world we can "remake in any
way we choose". Working in cybersecurity, carefully observing genuine attitudes in
peoples' unguarded moments - in contrast to their
"official/professional" positions - makes me sure that were the entire
telecommunications network of the planet to explode tomorrow, other
than for food riots as payment and supply chains adjust, most people
would have one bad week, shrug, and get on with the next thing. That's
to say "it's all a game" but one that we're all very, very invested in
trying to preserve... to the extent we're prepared to terrorise others
into sharing our worldview to keep it so. Isn't that a sure hallmark
of a religion? |
"Each scroll becomes a kind of prayer, submitting to the whims of an omniscient entity for the promise of reward." relates to the link between religion and dopamine/epinephrine.
https://www.wired.com/story/mormons-experience-religion-like...
One can almost link the rise of the internet religion with the demise of the traditional religions.