I read this right on the heels of reading Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity is Near", which makes for a fascinating juxtaposition. This book will be a good starting point for my own further research into the ideas presented. Basically, David Noble traces a history of the "religion of technology" in the West, from about 900 to the present day. He identifies a shift in Western Christian thinking around the 9th-10th centuries as the beginning of this religion of technology - the "image of God" in man became identified with both the body and soul, instead of just the soul as had been thought up to that point. The other cause he identifies throughout the book is the influence of chiliastic thinking - the millennial expectation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, that mankind is to use rationalism and technology to regain its pre-fallen state and either usher in paradise on earth through technology, or use technology to be best prepared to residence in the Kingdom of Heaven.
I would have liked a much deeper engagement with the causes and nature of this shift in thinking, but according to the author, "the reasons remain obscure". It is a bit frustrating throughout the book that the author is apparently completely ignorant of the existence of Christianity outside of western Europe, and the significant and enlightening differences between the two. For example, Eastern Christianity never identified the "image of God" with both body and soul, but emphatically only the soul. Likewise, chiliasm (millennialism) never took hold in Eastern Christianity (Orthodoxy), where the quest for perfection was always a quest for internal perfection, a paradise of the heart, not paradise on earth. A discussion of this difference would have been enlightening, or at least a deeper look at this shift in the West that the author identifies - it seemed like a crucial point to me.
Overall, his engagement with his subject is a bit superficial. Granted, this is a work of pop history not an academic text, but his heavy reliance on secondary sources left me wondering if his analysis was just the rehashed conclusions of works that support his thesis rather than a critical engagement with the subject matter. For example, is his emphasis on the influence of Joachim of Fiore accurate? Is he fairly presenting the theological position of Scotus Erigena, or distorting it to fit his thesis? Am I being misled for the sake of his ultimate motives?
By the time I reached the end of the book, I felt justified in this feeling as the author's ultimate position is finally revealed. He opens the book saying "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." In the final chapter, tellingly titled "The Politics of Perfection", he explicitly states his true thesis - to demonstrate that the "religion of technology" is ultimately driven not by a desire to improve this world, but by the basically religious desire to transcend and escape this world.
The problem with this thesis is that it is easily contradicted by a fair reading of today's technological futurists like Ray Kurzweil, who, in "The Singularity is Now" certainly expresses desire to transcend this world through technology, but also constantly justifies advances in genetic engineering, nanotech, and advanced AI robotics by discussing the tremendous benefits to humanity and the promise of greatly alleviating human suffering. To oppose these technologies is to perpetuate massive human suffering for the sake of Luddite ideology, according to Kurzweil. This only confirms my suspicions that the author is more concerned with grinding his axe than with really getting to the bottom of these issues.
Despite my reservations, I still give the book four stars because, for me, it has provided a fascinating introductory study of connections between certain tendencies in Christian thought and the technological impulse. The author has done a good enough job that I had a thrilling read, and a lot of resources to keep me busy in my own research for years to come.
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