Reflections on Smartphones

Theomania, the desire to be like a god, is alive and well today. Theologian Christoph Schwöbel notes that there is an interesting historical-cultural coincidence between the birth of radical concept of freedom and the denial of God in Western philosophy. He suggests that it results from humans attempting the kind of freedom one normally attributes to God—omniscient, omnipotent, infinite. This perspective on freedom tends to imply that the self must occupy or usurp the space once given to God in Western consciousness—human and divine freedom in a strange way are set up in a direct conflict and competition. This has dire consequences; the quest for immanent radical freedom can sacrifice unnecessarily much that is good in life, and perhaps to some extent my well-being.

[There emerges] a dislocation in the relational order: when they aspire to be more than human, they actually become less than human….We often find the radical conception of freedom as absolute and unlimited lies at the heart of many of the most dehumanizing tendencies…in modern history. Where freedom is seen as radically self-constituted, responsibility is restricted to the responsibility of agents to themselves, and it is at this point that the claim of radical autonomy cannot be distinguished from the escape into unaccountability.  (C. Schwöbel)

These radical individuals as they gain power and influence, grow in narcissistic tendencies and ultimately can become a law unto themselves; the scope of perceived moral responsibility ends with one’s self, one’s perceived needs, desires and creativity. The reigning ethos claims that I alone must reach my full potential and even create my own moral and intellectual universe. This posture constitutes a failure of freedom in a game of self-deception and illusion. From whence does our freedom really come? Here are some thoughts on modern personal technology from UBC Geography Grad Student, Samuel Johns: samuelgjohns@gmail.com Read More…