Technology and culture offer different approaches to decision-making. Ideally, a community uses technology as a tool for solving certain kinds of problems. Sadly, in modern times, it has been applied to situations that demand more than statistical reasoning, leading to the loss of certain important cultural values.
Eileen suggested one way to counter that is to participate in meaningful conversation and hugs. Paul often writes about engaging life through all the senses, especially touch.
Decision-making should consider that we are embodied persons constantly living in complex face-to-face relationships that demand commitment and accountability. Christian culture does that when it makes gathering for a meal the central act of worship. When we meet around a table to share food that nourishes our bodies, we also share words that nourish our souls. We tell stories about what we have done in the past, often using ancient scripture, and about what we hope for in the future. All of this inspires us to share ourselves and what we possess in love.
Decision-making in this situation is not always efficient, as artificial intelligence defines efficiency. It seeks the common good, always ensuring that this includes the well-being of the vulnerable. As St. Paul notes, it sees things with the eyes of the heart.
The ethics of most communities employ cultural values to consider how a decision contributes to the common good. Usually, this involves protecting the weak from the strong. Ethics ask many questions beyond how I or my group can get what we want. It weighs how the decision affects poverty, racism, healthcare, voting rights, employment, wages, natural resources, and much more.
In our world that means refusing to see capital as the ultimate value and economic growth as the sole goal. It means recognizing the real value of food has to do with more than market price, and the availability of health care more than insurance coverage.
Seeking the common good in the real world always involves some degree of self-denial because it considers other people. Christianity acknowledges this might demand suffering and even death.
Participating in embodied communities is one way we preserve and promote cultural values. Another is designing our educational systems. I’d like to look at that next week.
