Post-Modern Technology

(The link here is called "Modern Technology" but I suspect "Post-Modern" would be a better title.)

This is about a resolution (G14) brought by a Quorum of Seventy (a leading quorum of the church). It is titled, "Communicating the Gospel" and is an attempt to reach younger members of society. It does make use of the term "Modern" and "post-modern" so I will define them as I understand these terms.

In deference to the post-modern mindset, an amendment was made to get the results out sooner. Both the amendment and the motion were overwhelmingly accepted. I'm not sure if there were any speaches against either of them.

The "Modern" mindset is an acceptance of things "modern" and a rejection of the "obsolete." It should not take any more significance than the term "Renaissance" did for an earlier period of Earth's history. It started around the beginning of the twentieth century (see the movie "Thoroughly Modern Millie"), and is in the process of ending now. It is being replaced by a new era, which is called, for lack of a better term yet, "Post-Modern."

As I said, the Modern person accepts technology as improving life. In general, it is characterized by Factories, and large offices, and learning to live with the facts of the Industrial revolution.

Post-modern, on the other hand, does not always assume technology is good. None-the-less, it is based on the computer and the results it has spawned. For an early look at what people expected, see the book The Third Wave. In this book, the Post-modern world is called the Third wave, and the author doesn't anticipate what it will look like, just that it will exist (the book was published in something like 1982).

Currently there is a generation gap regarding technology (not similar to the generation gap of the 1960's that I lived through). That is, the younger generation is aware of technology, the likes of which the older generation cannot conceive. Mostly it is based on speed, access, and freedom. The Internet is the primary conduit currently.

For example, I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard ministers think they were aware of the latest technology when they mention e-mailing other people in their sermons. E-mail is obsolete technology now, and is considered slow. The current technology is instant messaging. But this ignores streaming video, Internet telephony, etc. The younger generation in the United States are aware of these, and use them. (I recall my daughter two or three years ago keeping up five instant messenger conversations, while surfing the WEB. A few years ago the electricity was off for several days due to a storm. The first day electricity was back on, my daughter was sick, so she had to stay home, however, before 11:00 she already was aware of the fact that the school was cold. Her friends had contacted her using Instant Messenger.

I have presented Post Modern as if it were simply technology, but it is not. It would be more appropriate to call it a mindset. That is, a mindset built on this technology. They can become impatient with people who are set in their ways, unwilling to change when change is warranted. They will win out over big business eventually. Big business is based on the Industrial Revolution, since in the Post-Modern world there is little advantage to being big.

Another aspect of the post-modern world is Napster, and the file sharing idea. Companies can file suits over this, and win, but in the long run the file sharing will win out.

The main point is that the youth today know about these things, but the older generation does not.

To illustrate how fine the edge can be, I will point out an incident that happened with my younger daughter, born in 1987. My older daughter was born in 1983. Connie, my younger daughter, was in fifth and sixth grade she was very much into creating WEB pages, and programming in HTML. She had set up her own WEB page, and I could record hits from all over the world. Her site got more hits than mine in those days. My older daughter, when seeing how much time she was spending on the computer, commented that she had never done that. I had to point out that, in fact, when she was that age it wasn't possible. This is how fine the difference between Modern and Post-Modern can be.

Therefore, the resolution does more than just call for a committee to address this issue. It specifies that this committee is to be made up of youth and young adults. Since I have done my part about advancing computer technology, I am interested in this subject, and would love to be on such a committee, but I have to admit that even I would be behind the curve on this one, and therefore would not put myself on the committee.

I will also point out that this is very important. The church can point out that it has always been a leader in technology, especially for churches. For example, it was one of the first to use radio to get its message out. (Think of how often it is copied today.) It was a leader in using the slide projector. It also set up facilities for creating VHS tapes as soon as it could. I recall the church waiting to get the technology for creating tapes because they did not know whether Beta or VHS would win general acceptance. Similarly, the church had one of the first Internet sites on the WEB. The list goes on. I wonder how many churches currently have anything like the cyber-congregation the church has. See http://cofchrist.org/chat/. This has been going on for some time now.

(I can also point out the the Church's Four year College, now Graceland University, has one of the oldest computer science programs in the nation. I suppose I can claim some small part in setting up conditions which allowed for this as I worked for the College at that time, and was helpful in setting up conditions whereby the program could get started. This resulted in the church having a higher percentage of programmers among its members than the general population for a long time.)

The importance of this can be seen in that the church, as stated by the youth caucus in approving the new section to the Doctrine and Covenants they are "the ones who will be challenged to live in [this world] ... the longest" they need to find their acceptance in the gospel. We need to get into this congregation.