Category Archives: Uncategorized

60 Minutes Report: Robots, AI and Job Growth

On their January 13th episode, 60 Minutes aired this report on the next generation of robots and their growing impact on the US (and World) economy. Most of us may be familiar with the concept of robots being used in factories to build cars and appliances. However, this report showed that, with the increased sophistication of artificial intelligence software (aka A.I.), robots are taking over jobs in hospitals, law offices, and other “safe” positions.

The core dilemma this report raises is that advancing technology is disrupting so many industries, so quickly and the new technologies aren’t creating enough jobs to employ the workers they displace (even with re-training).

Definitely a must-see…

Step Into a World…

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Imagine we lived in a world that had never seen, heard of, or experience alcohol. Ever. Then imagine that something or someone enters the picture and introduces this world to alcohol. 

People slowly begin to try it, and they love it. It tastes great. It makes people feel good. It makes parties more fun.

As humanity learns how to make it, a huge industry is created. People find jobs. Economies grow. Everyone’s happy. 

With all this success, alcohol is viewed as the new wonder substance. It seems to make everything better. The success stories are all over the news and in every business magazine. Alcohol is the future. 

Since everything is going so well, humanity starts to use alcohol for EVERYTHING. To power cars, as a cleaning agent, to help school children with ADD, as a laxative, to help babies sleep – everything. The success stories continue. 

As the world economy becomes more dependent on the growing alcohol industry, stockholders push for more growth. This means finding new uses for alcohol. Pregnant women are told to drink it as a prenatal supplement. Doctors use it to treat heart attacks and cancer. 

At this point, serious problems start coming to the surface. Babies start being born with deformities. Alcoholism amongst 3rd graders becomes a growing problem. Forty percent of the drivers on the road are drunk, so traffic fatalities go through the roof. 

People start to protest. Some people conclude that alcohol is evil and we should eliminate it altogether. Other people say it’s a fundamental part of life and a pillar of the economy. To eliminate it would be insane. In fact, we haven’t even touched the surface of what alcohol can do. 

Who’s right? 

In the story above, there’s nothing wrong with alcohol. It IS a great social lubricant. It is part of the economy. And it does have many other important uses. 

But alcohol SHOULD NOT be given to children or pregnant mothers. Or to people who are, or will be driving. That is the WRONG way to use alcohol.

 With the introduction of alcohol to this imaginary world, the people learned that for some things alcohol, when used correctly, is great.

The people also needed to learn that there are some circumstances where alcohol should NEVER be used. It hurts not only the user, but the people around him or her.

 At this point, I would argue that our society is still in the first part of the previous story. The prevailing attitude is – “more technology is always better”, and it should be used everywhere, and for everything. We know all the upsides associated with new technologies, and the potential downsides are either not investigated or dismissed outright. The primary barometer of whether something is a good or bad use of technology is it’s financial success. If a new device or service is profitable or has a lot of users, then it is deemed an innovation, irrespective of its larger impact on society.

So – at what point will we reach the second part of the story?
In what areas should technology NOT be used?
How should we judge whether a new technology is truly an innovation or not? 

Please share your thoughts in the comments…

Getting Past Wonder

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Thinking back on my childhood, I vividly remember the first time I got lost in a public place. I was about five or six years old. My family went to an open-air fruit market not too far from our home. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car, I immediately went into sensory overload. The place was full of people. More than that, the colorful array of fruits and vegetable seized my complete attention.

“What’s that purple thing?”
“Why is that celery red?”
“What’s that smell?”

I was also a boy with a healthy appetite (my clothes always came from the “Husky” section of the Boys Department). Therefore, seeing all these foods sent my mind racing…

“Are those strawberries? Maybe Mom will bake a pie!!!”
“Whoa – did that guy just eat one of those grapes? Can I have some?”
“Look!!! That lady is giving out samples!!!”

I was so caught up in a mixture of known favorites, new choices, and tempting possibilities that I lost track of where I was. As I ran from booth to booth, trying new fruits and marveling at things I had never seen before, I became separated from my parents. I spent the next 10 minutes doing what any sensible child would do in this situation. I started screaming my head off! My parents didn’t hear my cries, but an older woman who heard me figured out I was lost, and helped me eventually find the rest of my family.

Now that I’m older, I can successfully navigate a fruit market on my own. That doesn’t mean I still don’t get caught up in wonder over new things. Instead of food, now it’s new technology.

New mobile apps, social media sites, and online services spring up on a daily basis and excite our imaginations. They give us the opportunity to do things we’ve never been able to do before. Beyond just adding convenience, these new devices make us feel like we are living in “The Future”.

BTW – The Future = an always clean, minimalist utopia that has every cool thing you’ve ever seen in a sci-fi movie. It’s a place where everything either floats, is made of glass, or wears spandex.

I’m enthralled with the idea of living in “The Future”. And apparently I’m not alone. The rate at which society is eagerly adopting new technologies and services is astounding. Facebook grew to from 1 million members in 2004 to over 1 billion users in 8 years. Google’s web-based email service, Gmail, has grown from zero to 425 million members in roughly the same time period.

When the iPad was released in April 2010, it invented a new category of device – the Tablet. In just two and a half years, more than 100 million iPads have been sold. For comparison, the largest library in the world (Library of Congress) only has 34.5 million books.

Along with these new devices, we have become just as smitten with new apps and services. In less than four years, the Apple has sold 35 billion iPhone & iPad apps from it’s App Store. Google has sold 25 billion apps through its Android apps store in roughly the same time period.

In less than a decade – we have all fallen hard and fast for “The Future”. We are fully caught up in the wonder that these new devices bring, along with the potential that they bring to our lives.

While it may be Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on my part, I can’t help but be concerned that our feeling of wonder when it comes to new technologies may be preventing us from keeping track of what’s important. We consumers tend to focus more on what these new devices can do for us, and not enough on what they may be doing to us. We are eager to sign up for the newest service so we can gain a new convenience, but we don’t spend enough time thinking about what we may be giving up.

The goal of this site is to hopefully get those in the Christian Church past the point of wonder when it comes to technology. To get beyond the “gee whiz/that’s so cool” initial response, and begin to thinking critically about how these new technologies are impacting our relationship with Christ and each other. Posts on this site will be directed at provoking thought and discussion about the direction technology is taking both the Church and society. We also hope to look at the impact these new technologies are having on the Church’s ability to fulfill its mission.

I hope you will join us…