Page 365 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

T H E D O M I N AT I O N O F T E C H N O L O G Y
With Descartes and the modern age, the extraction and
exploitation of nature’s energies became central. Technology
ceased to be merely a means and became an end in itself. The
whole purpose of life began to center on the reproduction and
improvement of technology. Informatics completed this pro-
cess: nature was no longer only a source of energy but also of
information. Matter itself became dematerialized into math-
ematical power, detachable from its material substrate. Hu-
manity now extracts not only energy from nature, but infor-
mation, transforming reality into manipulable data.
This marks a profound break with the patristic understand-
ing of creation. For the Fathers, creation derives its intelligibil-
ity from its relation to God and from its teleological orienta-
tion. Modern technology, by contrast, intervenes brutally into
the laws of nature, extracting from it energies and qualities for
purposes alien to its own nature, even altering those laws
themselves, as biotechnology increasingly does. Nature is no
longer received as gift, but treated as raw material for technical
domination.
When we come to digital technology, which now consti-
tutes an inseparable component of daily life, the relationship
between the human being and the material world vanishes
almost entirely. Digital technology is based on the demateri-
alization of matter, making even our bodies increasingly re-
dundant in communication. Human relationships are con-
ducted on the internet; many claim to have thousands of
“friends” without ever having met them face to face. At the
same time, humanity is preparing to welcome artificial intel-
ligent beings into its life, some of which have already arrived.
This raises a grave question: are we witnessing the end of homo
sapiens as we have known it? It certainly appears to be the end
of the human being as the Fathers understood it.
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