The Mindless Machinery of Modernity - Jock McGregor - June 23rd 2023 - Friday Night Lecture

Nothings is more emblematic of Modernity than the ‘Machine’. Their power and efficiency have long entranced the Modern Mind. But, as the power of technique was applied not just to the Natural World but to Human Society itself, proper concerns arose. Were machines serving Man or was Man getting reduced to a cog in the machine. And today, with the rise of self-driving cars and Artificial Intelligence, the promise and peril of the machine is once more in the news.

 

In the context of these concerns, many thinkers, Christians among them, looked to the Humanities. If the Sciences were creating this powerful Machinery of the Modern world, then at least the Humanities could direct this power to the Common Good and offset their inherent reductionism – provide a Mind for the Machine, if you will. In fact, the PostModern turn, arising within the Humanities, very consciously promised to deliver us from the totalizing hegemony of Modernity. But as things have played out over the past 50 years, questions must be asked. Have the Humanities delivered? Or are they not as much a part of the problem as the solution? Come and join the discussion.

 

Click here for slides.

 

Jock McGregor, along with his wife Alison, has worked in L'Abri for over 30 years. With a B.Sc. and an M.Div. from Regent College, his interests are largely in the relationship of Christianity and Culture. He spent 10 years working at the English L'Abri before joining the Rochester team in 2000.