Smartphones Vs. Mesilas Yesharim

Yoni Lavie Manager, "Chaverim Makshivim" Website

I received the following note in my mail from some unknown source: "Great news! Until now, in vitro fertilization was available only to couples with fertility problems – now everybody else can also avail themselves of this procedure! Any couple who wants to guarantee that they will have a healthier child can now turn to our clinic! Using a unique and advanced technique, we will perform a selection by which you can choose who to bring into this world and who not to bring. We will weed out fetuses that are genetically inclined to develop cancer, diabetes, and other medical problems. You will know in advance that your baby will not be prone to sickness."   What is your reaction to such an announcement? Surprise? Happiness? Do you immediately reach for the phone and make an appointment in this new clinic? Or do you perhaps react with greater caution? The rapid development of science carries along with it quite a few serious ethical dilemmas and moral problems which must be considered very carefully. We must not be blinded by the wonders of technology, which can lead us to ignore the significance of new developments and their cost to us.   Racing Ahead   The pace of the world's development is beyond our comprehension. Devices that twenty years ago would have seemed to be science fiction are sitting in our pockets today and we take them for granted. What will things look like twenty years from now? It is hard to say, but based on our experience we might feel that nothing is impossible. However, the enthusiasm with which we accept every innovation and the way we get excited about the latest science discoveries leads us to miss out on the critical analysis of its moral, spiritual, and cultural meaning. This may lead to terrible damage. Just imagine a nine-year-old boy who is sitting behind the wheel of a large truck and who presses the gas pedal. This might lead to a lethal result. When a driver with a fourth-grade mentality and skills takes charge of a monster with such great power, he is liable to run over many objects on the road.   In his book "Eder Hayakar," Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook describes the advances in the world in just these terms. Two forces lead the world – the "will" and the "ability." Ability refers to scientific and technological advances. "Will" refers to awareness, understanding, and the realm of morality. The world plods along on two feet, and the one that almost always leads is the one representing ability. Man has landed on the moon and sent spaceships that went beyond the solar system, he has decoded the secrets of the human genome and has achieved amazing results in the realm of cloning. He holds remarkable smartphones in his hand, and he has developed shared applications and social networks which link billions of people together.   However, the world rushed to accomplish all of this without analyzing the moral significance of it all. What impact does this rapid development have on society? What effect does it have on the family unit? What does it do to the spiritual development of children and to their social interactions? How can we utilize these inventions for the good and in an ethical way, without leading to a commercial takeover, and to a cynical exploitation of these great capabilities at the price of important values?   Which one Should Lead?   As people of faith, we have no doubt that the advancement of the world is a good thing. There is something in the world which pushes it to ever higher achievements, there is an angel who constantly demands more and more growth. The mending of the world in the Kingdom of G-d includes not only the spiritual issues but also the material side - eradication of sickness and conquering the forces of nature, improving the quality of life and the development of communications tools and transfer of information from one person to another. However, in the real world the rule is that every bit of light casts a shadow. And the gap between the two feet on which mankind advances createsan abyss which all too many people fall into.   Our task as parents, educators, and people of faith is to minimize this gap as much as possible. We must awaken the awareness of the fact that a tool is not just a technical object for our use but that it also brings with it a message that has an effect on the one who uses it, and that it forms his character. (Marshall Mcluhan said, "The medium is the message.") We must hold a broad and fundamental discussion of the spiritual and ethical significance of technological developments. We should sometimes be willing to pay the price of giving up some new invention when it has too big a moral, spiritual, or social price. It is wrong for parents to buy a smartphone for their children without first having a basic and courageous discussion about the issues involved. It is unthinkable that the Ministry of Science and Technology of our country is completely separate from the Ministry of Education or from humanists and social experts who can analyze the significance and the dilemmas which might stem from new developments, and to analyze these issues.   Perfection will in the end come from combining all the different forces – the spiritual-ethical and the technological-scientific, for the good of mankind as a whole. Meanwhile, if we must choose between upgrading an existing smartphone to the newest model and studying another chapter in "Messilat Yesharim," we should have a feeling that upgrading a person takes precedence over upgrading a machine.