The direction of our society is corporate and void of interpersonal dialogue. This is the environment that dystopias are set in. Perhaps we ought to pause and consider where we're going.
Excellent take on things. I recently saw a documentary about the world's blue zones, i.e., those places where most people live much longer lives than average. These places differed in climate, and the people differed in their diets and their races. One thing they all had in common was a strong connection to others who valued them and treated them with dignity. They felt a secure sense of belonging. It's a tragedy that is missing for so many.
I think our society reflects an intellectual interpretation of reality--what philosophers refer to as "philosophical presuppositions" or a "worldview." In the Academy, even when I was in graduate school many years ago, there was a presumption of "naturalistic materialism." That view excluded the transcendent and spiritual. Though many of my professors at that time would have fallen outside this classification, the dominant schools of thought could be described in this way. And in the late twentieth century, post-modern thought has gone beyond dismissing morality to rejecting even science, logic, and mathematics. For example, Dr. Donna Riley, a professor of engineering education at Purdue University, published an article a few years ago arguing that "scientific rigor" and "mathematical precision" were tools of the white patriarchy in science used to suppress minority and marginalized populations. Just one of her papers will tell you what she is about: Rigor/Us: Building Boundaries and Disciplining Diversity with Standards of Merit."
My point is this. Scripture tells us that as a person thinks in his heart, then that is the way that person will be. And that is very logical. If our institutions are becoming increasingly dystopian, then we may find the cause of that in the twisted ways we have to come think as a society. In fact, noted academic voices, such as Dr. Patricia Churchland (an eliminative materialist philosopher) and Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder (a physicist) deny the existence of personal identity and free will. Hossenfelder, for example, calls free will “logically incoherent nonsense,” and Churchland dismisses traditional notions of personal identity and thought as illicit "folk psychology." But these assaults on human personality and dignity have been going on in the Academy for more than a century, and it has now leaked into general society as a set of materialistic assumptions about the nature of reality. These assumptions are rarely questioned by most people. As the Barna Group documents, even self-professed Christians have become more like their secular neighbors in the way they think. That is amazing, but Barna's surveys provide the evidence. If society denies any real basis for the "humanity of man" and dismisses any objective foundation for moral values, then should we be surprised that its commercial and governmental institutions follow suit by becoming more inhuman? And if Christians seem to be embracing the same way of thinking, is there any wonder that Christian opposition to this trend is less than forceful?
In fact, attempting to reform commercial institutions, I would argue, is pointless. As long as society embraces a dehumanizing worldview and places that view at the center of education, such attempted reform must fail. In fact, if it is true that the ideas taught in the school room in one generation become the ideas of that condition society and its institutions in the next, the dystopian trend that you discuss in your article will only grow worse over time. If our intellectual environment does not support the affirmation of human value, save as an empty rhetorical proclamation adorning protest signs and bumper stickers from time to time, then why should Amazon care? The people that this corporation and others are dehumanizing have been taught by academic authorities that they deserve this kind of abuse. In fact, the worldview they have been taught would say that if humankind were destroyed tomorrow by a cosmic disaster, the universe would go on without noticing and without recognizing any moral loss in the disaster. In fact, the universe would not recognize that a disaster had occurred. The universe does not mourn for the dinosaurs, so why should the universe mourn for us? If Christians buy into this way of thinking, then we extinguish our light by putting it under a bushel.
Of course, the biblical Christian worldview opposes this kind of thinking, but society seems to be less inclined today to listen that it was in previous times. Moreover, Christians seem less inclined to be counter-cultural. Perhaps God will bless us with a move of His Spirit that leads us to repentance, but I see little evidence of that. What I see is, perhaps, what Augustine saw as the city of Hippo was deteriorating under siege by barbarians. The entire Western Empire, in his view, was in a similar state. From an "earthly" point of view, he did not see hope. But he did not view events from this perspective. He saw the events of history from the towers of the Heavenly City, so he could have hope. We can join him in that hope, and share that hope with others.
Thank you for taking the time to think through this problem alongside me, and share your thoughts. It seems to me that large swaths of those who identify as Christian, because that's how they were raised or that's what their parents practiced, simply do not hold a Christian worldview at all. It's for that reason that so many were fine with the closure of churches under the auspice of "fighting covid" while liquor stores were left open -- they could see the utility in the latter, but no longer the necessity of the former. It is also why we see the erasure of community and the reduction of man to his utility. We have much to rebuild, and as Christians, we always have cause for hope and resilience.
Well said. I have concluded that resting in God is the only solution. We are not answerable for what others think, say, or do. We are only answerable for whether we are listening to our Father and obeying him out of love and faith. Nothing else matters.
Yes, the tendency to jump on one's phone at the end of the day, to do anything other than talk to someone (in a stroke of irony), isn't helping us at all.
Sarah, you always pick topics that make people think. This one is one of your best!
I've always chosen jobs that I felt made a contribution to society.
Oil and Gas Construction, Nuclear Power Construction, Highway and Bridge Construction, all, I felt made a contribution.
The downside of those jobs:
Offshore rig construction was a 7 day a week process for contractors. The oil companies had 2 weeks on and 1 week off schedules but not the construction companies. Nuclear Power Construction was typically 6 to 7 days a week and 12 hour days. Highway and bridge construction was 6 to 7 days and long hours. The construction companies make their profits by meeting certain deadlines or milestones during the project. Over the years those milestones have become harder and harder to meet causing the construction companies to ride their personnel harder and harder. One result of this is the employes forsake going to Church on Sundays (Keeping Holy the Lord's Day). Family time suffers, Dad comes home after Dinner, misses kid's performances in sports, misses birthday parties, things important to a kid. And the kids see Dad missing Church on Sunday.
The large companies are run by accountants trying to outdo their predecessors and therefore make the milestones for construction companies all but imposssible to meet. The construction companies need to make a profit to pay their stockholders and so ride their employees harder.
It's over a hundred years old. Elon Musk is ready to roll out humanoid robots to the rich. The A.I. which is almost not quite A.I. is here, sold like it was the latest greatest thing without question. Now they'll replace all these drivers, factory workers, office staff... a robot run corporation, devoid of humanity. You'll talk to robots on the phone, you'll talk to robots at the store, and robots which we should really call corporate technological replacements of human beings... will be the tech shift warned about for over 100 years now. E.M. Forster (A ROOM WITH A VIEW) wrote a little ditty called "THE MACHINE STOPS." You should check it out. It predates all the other dystopia books, including 1984. It's more accurate than all of them. From 1909.
In it, people worship THE MACHINE. They basically all have youtube channels and give their lectures and commentaries on everything. They live in cubicles where THE MACHINE delivers, and provides them with everything. Nobody is allowed to 'go outside' and those guilty of sins against THE MACHINE receive the ultimate penalty: they are cancelled and rendered HOMELESS. That's it. Well until THE MACHINE glitches and breaks down...
50 years ago when God was still the center of many peoples lives in North America, we did come together as communities. I was still in elementary school but I vividly remember neighborhood gatherings. Even playing softball or street hockey on a rainy day. Didn't mean we always got along but people spoke with each other--in a civil manner. After reading this recent serving by Ms. Cain I am reminded of recent trips to the local stores. Whether it's the grocery store or Walmart, most of those working at these places have what I call "dead eyes" which are void of humanity. They're more like automatons that create nothing! Most people will not bother with an appropriate greeting of the day anymore.
The answer is not more answers from man! The answer lies within the Holy Bible! God's Word is what we are sorely missing, here and around the world. Western nations are falling because they've fallen away from Christ!
I'm not sure, but I think it was Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame who said that the idea of looking for fulfillment in a job is a bad idea. He seems to be saying that a job is a means to support the ways you go about seeking and finding fulfillment; those things you mentioned at the end of the article: "families, cookouts, kids playing sports, adults playing card games over drinks, the presence of religion, community, spontaneity, differences in clothing between people, the group plotting for the future, and so on".
We're inherently connected and in relationship to one-another, by virtue of our humanity. What you describe is inhuman and dehumanising. The answer; build in communal activities to these work places. Example: coffee breaks in coffee docks, lunch halls, sports facilities such as swimming pools, gimnasiums ? And why not social clubs! i.e. Let these mega wealthy companies put back in a percentage of the profits made due to the hard work and dedication of their employees. A win-win solution. Companies did it in the past!
Pausing to enjoy the beauty and magic of the natural world is something that unites many people. People who feel the spiritual presence in that beauty. Sometimes, I have short 2-3 minute conversations with these people.
Usually I agree with everything you write, but not this time. I'm the son of OKIE migrants. The Amazon type job you describe is how workers in production companies earn a living, like my parents when they finally found work. Paying for food and shelter was their first priority. It is not an employer's task to nurture your spirit but to run a successful company which may require many workers in routine jobs. I've worked production on a punch press hour after hour to buy food and pay for college and also as a creative scientist much later. Many of my coworkers shunned creativity and value limited jobs with fixed time and scope. Human values can be created by you with your family or friends unless you break out of the mold and also achieve this through your occupation
Grandchild of a Dustbowl refugee (Binger, OK) Sometimes you have wallow with a sow, but she will eventually pull you out of the mud. But I do understand what Sarah is trying to say. I made money in the potato sheds and oilfields around Bakersfield and the people in those places were colorful for sure. But those jobs were nothing like these jobs today. Community was sort of built in, a naturally coalecsing river flowing toward a few cold beers later on or a barbeque.
No, it is not an employer's task to "nurture your spirit." But to say that is to miss the author's point entirely. When I worked assembly I related to other live human beings who worked with me. When I fell short it was through human interaction that I learned. Automation and efficiencies are positive...to a point that we have long passed.
Excellent take on things. I recently saw a documentary about the world's blue zones, i.e., those places where most people live much longer lives than average. These places differed in climate, and the people differed in their diets and their races. One thing they all had in common was a strong connection to others who valued them and treated them with dignity. They felt a secure sense of belonging. It's a tragedy that is missing for so many.
You need to read something other than fantasies.
You need to wake up.
Characterization and name calling are the first resort of women and scoundrels.
Why do you say that, Fart?
Because it's my reality.
I think our society reflects an intellectual interpretation of reality--what philosophers refer to as "philosophical presuppositions" or a "worldview." In the Academy, even when I was in graduate school many years ago, there was a presumption of "naturalistic materialism." That view excluded the transcendent and spiritual. Though many of my professors at that time would have fallen outside this classification, the dominant schools of thought could be described in this way. And in the late twentieth century, post-modern thought has gone beyond dismissing morality to rejecting even science, logic, and mathematics. For example, Dr. Donna Riley, a professor of engineering education at Purdue University, published an article a few years ago arguing that "scientific rigor" and "mathematical precision" were tools of the white patriarchy in science used to suppress minority and marginalized populations. Just one of her papers will tell you what she is about: Rigor/Us: Building Boundaries and Disciplining Diversity with Standards of Merit."
My point is this. Scripture tells us that as a person thinks in his heart, then that is the way that person will be. And that is very logical. If our institutions are becoming increasingly dystopian, then we may find the cause of that in the twisted ways we have to come think as a society. In fact, noted academic voices, such as Dr. Patricia Churchland (an eliminative materialist philosopher) and Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder (a physicist) deny the existence of personal identity and free will. Hossenfelder, for example, calls free will “logically incoherent nonsense,” and Churchland dismisses traditional notions of personal identity and thought as illicit "folk psychology." But these assaults on human personality and dignity have been going on in the Academy for more than a century, and it has now leaked into general society as a set of materialistic assumptions about the nature of reality. These assumptions are rarely questioned by most people. As the Barna Group documents, even self-professed Christians have become more like their secular neighbors in the way they think. That is amazing, but Barna's surveys provide the evidence. If society denies any real basis for the "humanity of man" and dismisses any objective foundation for moral values, then should we be surprised that its commercial and governmental institutions follow suit by becoming more inhuman? And if Christians seem to be embracing the same way of thinking, is there any wonder that Christian opposition to this trend is less than forceful?
In fact, attempting to reform commercial institutions, I would argue, is pointless. As long as society embraces a dehumanizing worldview and places that view at the center of education, such attempted reform must fail. In fact, if it is true that the ideas taught in the school room in one generation become the ideas of that condition society and its institutions in the next, the dystopian trend that you discuss in your article will only grow worse over time. If our intellectual environment does not support the affirmation of human value, save as an empty rhetorical proclamation adorning protest signs and bumper stickers from time to time, then why should Amazon care? The people that this corporation and others are dehumanizing have been taught by academic authorities that they deserve this kind of abuse. In fact, the worldview they have been taught would say that if humankind were destroyed tomorrow by a cosmic disaster, the universe would go on without noticing and without recognizing any moral loss in the disaster. In fact, the universe would not recognize that a disaster had occurred. The universe does not mourn for the dinosaurs, so why should the universe mourn for us? If Christians buy into this way of thinking, then we extinguish our light by putting it under a bushel.
Of course, the biblical Christian worldview opposes this kind of thinking, but society seems to be less inclined today to listen that it was in previous times. Moreover, Christians seem less inclined to be counter-cultural. Perhaps God will bless us with a move of His Spirit that leads us to repentance, but I see little evidence of that. What I see is, perhaps, what Augustine saw as the city of Hippo was deteriorating under siege by barbarians. The entire Western Empire, in his view, was in a similar state. From an "earthly" point of view, he did not see hope. But he did not view events from this perspective. He saw the events of history from the towers of the Heavenly City, so he could have hope. We can join him in that hope, and share that hope with others.
Thank you for taking the time to think through this problem alongside me, and share your thoughts. It seems to me that large swaths of those who identify as Christian, because that's how they were raised or that's what their parents practiced, simply do not hold a Christian worldview at all. It's for that reason that so many were fine with the closure of churches under the auspice of "fighting covid" while liquor stores were left open -- they could see the utility in the latter, but no longer the necessity of the former. It is also why we see the erasure of community and the reduction of man to his utility. We have much to rebuild, and as Christians, we always have cause for hope and resilience.
Well said. I have concluded that resting in God is the only solution. We are not answerable for what others think, say, or do. We are only answerable for whether we are listening to our Father and obeying him out of love and faith. Nothing else matters.
Enjoyed your piece. Outside of the workplace, the addiction to technology has resulted in isolation and broken interpersonal skills.
Yes, the tendency to jump on one's phone at the end of the day, to do anything other than talk to someone (in a stroke of irony), isn't helping us at all.
Sarah, you always pick topics that make people think. This one is one of your best!
I've always chosen jobs that I felt made a contribution to society.
Oil and Gas Construction, Nuclear Power Construction, Highway and Bridge Construction, all, I felt made a contribution.
The downside of those jobs:
Offshore rig construction was a 7 day a week process for contractors. The oil companies had 2 weeks on and 1 week off schedules but not the construction companies. Nuclear Power Construction was typically 6 to 7 days a week and 12 hour days. Highway and bridge construction was 6 to 7 days and long hours. The construction companies make their profits by meeting certain deadlines or milestones during the project. Over the years those milestones have become harder and harder to meet causing the construction companies to ride their personnel harder and harder. One result of this is the employes forsake going to Church on Sundays (Keeping Holy the Lord's Day). Family time suffers, Dad comes home after Dinner, misses kid's performances in sports, misses birthday parties, things important to a kid. And the kids see Dad missing Church on Sunday.
The large companies are run by accountants trying to outdo their predecessors and therefore make the milestones for construction companies all but imposssible to meet. The construction companies need to make a profit to pay their stockholders and so ride their employees harder.
This is all caused by GREED!
Isn't greed one of the 7 deadly sins?
Ever seen the film METROPOLIS?
It's over a hundred years old. Elon Musk is ready to roll out humanoid robots to the rich. The A.I. which is almost not quite A.I. is here, sold like it was the latest greatest thing without question. Now they'll replace all these drivers, factory workers, office staff... a robot run corporation, devoid of humanity. You'll talk to robots on the phone, you'll talk to robots at the store, and robots which we should really call corporate technological replacements of human beings... will be the tech shift warned about for over 100 years now. E.M. Forster (A ROOM WITH A VIEW) wrote a little ditty called "THE MACHINE STOPS." You should check it out. It predates all the other dystopia books, including 1984. It's more accurate than all of them. From 1909.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops
In it, people worship THE MACHINE. They basically all have youtube channels and give their lectures and commentaries on everything. They live in cubicles where THE MACHINE delivers, and provides them with everything. Nobody is allowed to 'go outside' and those guilty of sins against THE MACHINE receive the ultimate penalty: they are cancelled and rendered HOMELESS. That's it. Well until THE MACHINE glitches and breaks down...
50 years ago when God was still the center of many peoples lives in North America, we did come together as communities. I was still in elementary school but I vividly remember neighborhood gatherings. Even playing softball or street hockey on a rainy day. Didn't mean we always got along but people spoke with each other--in a civil manner. After reading this recent serving by Ms. Cain I am reminded of recent trips to the local stores. Whether it's the grocery store or Walmart, most of those working at these places have what I call "dead eyes" which are void of humanity. They're more like automatons that create nothing! Most people will not bother with an appropriate greeting of the day anymore.
The answer is not more answers from man! The answer lies within the Holy Bible! God's Word is what we are sorely missing, here and around the world. Western nations are falling because they've fallen away from Christ!
Excellent Sarah!! Right on !!
I'm not sure, but I think it was Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" fame who said that the idea of looking for fulfillment in a job is a bad idea. He seems to be saying that a job is a means to support the ways you go about seeking and finding fulfillment; those things you mentioned at the end of the article: "families, cookouts, kids playing sports, adults playing card games over drinks, the presence of religion, community, spontaneity, differences in clothing between people, the group plotting for the future, and so on".
We're inherently connected and in relationship to one-another, by virtue of our humanity. What you describe is inhuman and dehumanising. The answer; build in communal activities to these work places. Example: coffee breaks in coffee docks, lunch halls, sports facilities such as swimming pools, gimnasiums ? And why not social clubs! i.e. Let these mega wealthy companies put back in a percentage of the profits made due to the hard work and dedication of their employees. A win-win solution. Companies did it in the past!
Pausing to enjoy the beauty and magic of the natural world is something that unites many people. People who feel the spiritual presence in that beauty. Sometimes, I have short 2-3 minute conversations with these people.
Thank You Sarah
Charlie
Amen sister...amen
Brilliant
So very true.
Usually I agree with everything you write, but not this time. I'm the son of OKIE migrants. The Amazon type job you describe is how workers in production companies earn a living, like my parents when they finally found work. Paying for food and shelter was their first priority. It is not an employer's task to nurture your spirit but to run a successful company which may require many workers in routine jobs. I've worked production on a punch press hour after hour to buy food and pay for college and also as a creative scientist much later. Many of my coworkers shunned creativity and value limited jobs with fixed time and scope. Human values can be created by you with your family or friends unless you break out of the mold and also achieve this through your occupation
Grandchild of a Dustbowl refugee (Binger, OK) Sometimes you have wallow with a sow, but she will eventually pull you out of the mud. But I do understand what Sarah is trying to say. I made money in the potato sheds and oilfields around Bakersfield and the people in those places were colorful for sure. But those jobs were nothing like these jobs today. Community was sort of built in, a naturally coalecsing river flowing toward a few cold beers later on or a barbeque.
Much has been lost.
No, it is not an employer's task to "nurture your spirit." But to say that is to miss the author's point entirely. When I worked assembly I related to other live human beings who worked with me. When I fell short it was through human interaction that I learned. Automation and efficiencies are positive...to a point that we have long passed.
This is a story that parallels every human event. There is nothing in the world that cannot be characterized as evil.
Oh? How about the giggle of a baby? Cuddling with a puppy? The laughter of a child at play? Are we getting somewhere?
Who is "we"?