Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World’s Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation by Greg Epstein
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Before reading this book, I knew of the author Greg Epstein primarily by his work as a humanist chaplain at Harvard and MIT during times I was affiliated with those institutions. I was unaware of his work as a tech journalist. This book smashes together those two facets of the author in the hope of offering a profound contribution to the “techlash” literature. I think it succeeds at offering a novel way to interpret the ways Big Tech culture has infiltrated all culture and warped the beliefs and values of several recent generations. For those like me, who have been consistently and critically following technology, internet culture, and its tendrils into philosophy, policy, etc., the book is mostly a rehashing of many things you already knew and already felt ambivalent about, except now its being analyzed like a religion.
I did enjoy the lessons on what religion is, how you might spot one and compare it to others you already know, and the key differences and advantages of agnosticism versus atheism. If this gets a bunch of technology navel-gazers to think deeply about the history of religion and why aspects of religion and faith are important to study even if you aren’t religious, then that will be a win. I agree with Epstein about the need for this.
A religious lens turns out to be a useful tool for analyzing the rhetoric around tech. Talking about technology as sociotechnical systems or culture, as many social science and humanities scholars—like me—do, still often misses the importance of belief and faith. When folks have irrational desires or views of the world, its not just that they are being deceived by hucksters. There are complex values systems that live and evolve beyond their progenitors or any isolated trend.
I was also convinced by Epstein’s argument in the conclusion for reclaiming “agnostic” as a noble posture. In the company of fellow readers, I would identify as a tech agnostic. The ambivalence of my feelings about tech is definitely a choice rather than a cop out. It is hard earned by riding the roller coasters of optimism and pessimism across several waves of tech.
I think the book’s main argument—tech (the whole social, political, economic project, not just the creation of widgets or apps) is a religion, we should be skeptical of its claims, and approach it like a religious scholar would—could have landed in an essay rather than a book. But I’ll admit it was fun to hear Epstein’s and his interviewees’ version of events from the past couple decades in tech. I was close to some of the examples and friends with specific interviewees, which added to the value for me. I just didn’t learn anything new about tech’s ethical pitfalls by the end.
If you are already studying technology as culture or just curious, add Tech Agnostic and religious analysis to your quiver.