Presence

In the course of a discussion this past Shabbos, I commented on what I thought was the Torah perspective on technology, in contradisctinction to the view most of us live as members of a capitilist society and economy. In Torah terms, technology is viewed as a means to alleviate the suffering of mankind, to grant Man honor and dignity in living life free from the subjugations of natural and random unjust forces. Technology, or more appropriately, the creative process by which man applies rational thought to the subjugation of nature and the modeling and manipulation of the natural world, has its place in the history of mankind.

The capitalistic view is somewhat different. The overall focus is on an increase in efficiency and capability, leading to greater accrual of capital. In short, technology's goal is to make more money. As Braindrops will tell you, an unavoidable side effect of the pursuit of greater efficiency, lower costs and innovation will be a decrease in man's overall physical labor and susceptability to the random whims of nature (at least in the epicenter of the capitalistic society; I'm wondering if the theory requires a "third world" in which cheap labor is readily available, or if this is simply a stage we are in at this point in history). But, and this is the point, he who is now freed from a particular task, is now free to engage in another, higher level, but no less time-comsuming, task. Technology without a business case, without a way to make money, is next to worthless. The Torah viewpoint would have it such that, at some point, money does in fact grow on trees (c.f. some Medrash or Rambam somewhere).

The point is that goals of engagement are orthoganal. Does this mean the two systems are incompatable? I don't think so. I think history has sufficiently proven that the system we are currently engaged in is working, if not morally, at least pragmatically. One could conceive of the necessary steps to transition, if not a majority of the population, a small, centrally-located example community to this approach.