The hands of God: spiritual values for coping with technology in the 21st century

Technology is not just hardware but is constituted by a social system that focuses increasingly powerful means on social goals. Such technology define s the future, and demands extraordinary steering proficiency to match the d riving forces of technology itself. Three sets of steering mechanisms are e xamined: thr invisible hand of the economic free market, public policy and its generation by democratic government, and Judeo-Christian and islamic sp iritual values that mold conduct and ignite moral vision. The argument is t hat major decisions about technology are made by public policy rather than the free market. But there is also a key role for religious teachings to pl ay in technological delivery systems. The paper concludes with speculations on possible relations between religious faith and technology. (C) 1999 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.