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What does modern technology have to do with God? This article argues that the distinctive form of technology we have in the modern world emerged from within the theology of late scholastic nominalism, in its view of God's radically omnipotent will. We look first at Martin Heidegger's understanding of the problem of modern technology, as expressed in his seminal essay, "The Question Concerning Technology." If Heidegger's diagnosis is correct, it points to the possibility that modern technology emerged from a theological turn taken by the nominalists. Similarly, if the root problem of technology is a theological one, then solutions to the problem might also emerge from within theology. We conclude by looking for these solutions within the moral psychology of Augustine, as described in De Trinitate.
HEIDEGGER AND TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWING
What is the problem with modern technology? The question forces itself upon our world with a sense of urgency in the face of exponential technological expansion, yet the question also seems too vague to answer. We can easily see particular problems with particular technologies, such as automobile pollution or the safety of nuclear power, but can we see any problems with modern technology itself? The experts mobilized to evaluate our technologies rarely address this question. Typically such "think tanks" gather to assess the costs and benefits of particular innovations, but little is ever said about technology as a whole. The result of these cost-benefit analyses is usually further technological expansion. If there is a problem with a given device, we solve it by building more and better devices: cleaner, more efficient cars and safer nuclear power plants. Technological problems are addressed from within the technological paradigm, and any vague anxieties about whether continued technological expansion is a good thing go unaddressed.
Heidegger takes up this issue in "The Question Concerning Technology."1 The problem with modern technology, he says, is that we do not yet understand what it is. We have not questioned it thoroughly enough to uncover its essence. Popular wisdom suggests that technology is merely a set of instruments that produce desired effects, a set of means that produce desired ends. Seen in this light, technology itself is not a problem, only the humans who employ it. After all, we are the ones who...