Lecture Notes: Why Religions Need to be at the Forefront of Human-Centered Technological Development

Speaker: Professor Hamza Yusuf

• President of Zaytuna College, Berkeley, California
• Foremost Muslim scholar and thinker
• First accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the USA
• Member of various religious and ethical councils and organizations

Key Themes and Topics

Cautious View on Technology

• Technology captivates modern lives unlike in the past.
• Historical skepticism towards new inventions:
  • Plato's Phaedrus: Writing seen as a potential loss of internal knowledge.
  • Inventions historically viewed negatively in religious contexts.
• Modern myth: "You can't stop progress"
  • Questioning the assumption that progress is inherently good.

Historical Examples of Technology Rejection

• Crossbow: Outlawed by Pope Innocent II as unethical.
• Knitting Machine: Rejected by Queen Elizabeth I to protect traditional employment.
• Guns in Japan:
  • Initially advanced producers of muskets, later outlawed for 300 years.
  • Seen as a threat to traditional martial arts and social structures.
• Printing Press in Ottoman Empire:
  • Avoided to protect jobs of scribes, not out of fear of foreign knowledge.

Current Technological Concerns

• Ethical considerations in technological advancement often overlooked.
• AI and technology viewed as crutches that reduce human autonomy.
  • Example: Dependency on cell phones.
• Dangers of AI and job displacement:
  • Questions about universal income and life purpose.

Relational Views on Technology and Religion

• Technology causing mental distractions and alienation.
  • Historical view: "Distraction" as mental derangement.
  • Kafka's view: Evil is whatever distracts.
• Religion as a response to life's difficulties, with technology potentially filling that role inappropriately.

Ethical and Philosophical Reflections

• Dangers of unchecked technological advancement.
• Historical narratives on the prohibition of harm and reciprocal harm.
• Questions about the purpose of life and meaning in a technologically advanced world.
• Cultural and religious practices, like the Sabbath, as forms of technological restraint.

Conclusion

• Reflection on technological change and progress.
• Quranic verse: "Where then are you going?" as a metaphor for contemplating the direction of technological and societal advancement.

Reflections by Audience

• Recognition of challenges in reversing technological dependency.
• Example from Jewish tradition: Sabbath as a limit on technology use.