The 21st century has seen a revaluation of work, now understood as a mode of self-realization and fulfillment, and Americans work longer and harder than ever before, despite having more material goods than ever before. Concomitantly, the modern world suffers from a devaluation of authentic leisure, which finds clear expression in two related areas of concern: sports and friendship, both of which have been co-opted by social media technologies promising ever-expanding immediacy of relation. In this lecture, Elliston of Schreiner University builds on these realities to argue that philosophical technophilia seriously overlooks aspects of Western modernity which threaten the foundations of human flourishing. He concludes that the very aspects of technological advance that have contributed much to the betterment of humankind also contain within them seeds of destruction if left unrealized and unchallenged.
The Winter 2021 event series was sponsored by the Issachar Fund in collaboration with Regent College.