In August 1945, the United States unleashed the power of the atom and leveled two Japanese cities. This new technology, the atomic bomb, brought an end to World War II, while simultaneously kicking off an arms race that would last nearly 50 years. The Soviet Union could not allow the U.S. to maintain its monopoly on the A-bomb, and so, by the time the dust settled, both sides felt compelled by national interest to continually develop and stockpile ever more powerful weapons.
This snowballing effect occurs in any arena driven by competition. It helps explain why the military has often been a catalyst for technological innovation, but the same dynamic applies in business.
We can watch this dynamic play out in real time with the development of AI. The U.S. government and American corporations are racing to develop their technologies faster than their Chinese counterparts, while both the Pentagon and Beijing are scrambling to integrate AI into their military capabilities. All of this is happening despite a significant number of AI researchers believing that there is a non-zero chance that advanced AI could result in the extinction of the human species.
Have you stopped to consider what the Amish might make of all this?
The Amish are Anabaptist Christians with a peculiar (and, dare I say, wise) relationship with technology. It is not that they reject modern technology outright, though many assume they do. Rather, they are determined not to let technology master them. They insist on mastering it.
The Amish have theological commitments that shape their way of life. They prioritize family, community, and worship. Unlike most Americans, they recognize that introducing a new technology into a community inevitably changes that community. It may change it for better or for worse, but it always changes it. That is why the Amish adopt new technologies on a trial basis.
When the Amish believe a tool might be useful, they introduce it slowly and deliberately. They pay close attention to the ways it reshapes their lives. For example, switching from oil lamps to flashlights might save time and effort, but it would also eliminate a meaningful responsibility that Amish children have within the community: trimming and maintaining the lamps.
Once the trial period ends, the adults decide whether the benefits outweigh the costs. Is the new convenience worth sacrificing one more way of integrating their children into the work of the community? If they conclude that the benefits outweigh the costs, the technology is accepted. If not, it is abandoned as though it never existed.
Therefore, the Amish are not subject to the competitive pressures that fuel an arms race. They are not mastered by technology; they simply use tools. The rest of the world, by contrast, is carried along by the centrifugal forces of military rivalry, shareholder value, and technological competition.
Think about how often we read headlines asking what smartphones or iPads have done to our attention spans, our literacy, or our mental health. By the time we begin asking those questions, the technologies in question have already become ubiquitous. We rarely have time to stop and ask what a certain technology is doing to us before it becomes woven into everyday life. The Amish do.
This represents a much healthier relationship with technology than the one the rest of us have adopted, though it seems unlikely that our civilization will embrace such an approach anytime soon. Even so, each of us can apply the wisdom of the Amish in our own lives and households by asking whether our technologies are serving our families, our communities, and our God. What's more, the Amish serve as living icons that human beings still have the ability to refuse to be mastered by what passes for technological progress.
Elijah Newcomb is a Birmingham resident and graduate of Auburn University and Beeson Divinity School at Samford University. He will matriculate at the University of Alabama School of Law this fall, where he hopes to further his interest in religion, law, and public life, with a particular focus on protecting Christian values in the public square.
This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News. To comment on this article, please email [email protected]. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
