The Luddite's Guide to Technology

"For a list of ways technology has failed to improve our lives, press 3."-Alice Kahn This book is different, even among the works of C.J.S. Hayward, and not just because it is a magnum opus. It has been said on the Holy Mountain that books scholars view as exalted classics are used for everyday spiritual development, and new books are not written because perfectly good old books are available. However, if they were lost, the community would write new books, and the new books would work just as well as the old. This book is a new book intended to take a patristic look at something that was not an everyday reality to the authors of the old books, and it has gotten attention. Various people have been raising alarms about the state of technology, and some people wonder why Orthodox Christians aren't getting it. But some of us are getting it; the oldest work in this compilation dates to 1995 and has aged gracefully. When the author did a literature search on Amazon for Orthodoxy and technology, he was dismayed to see his own works and nothing else on-topic. Now that voice is articulated by others: Jean-Claude Larchet, The New Media Epidemic: The Undermining of Society, Family, and Our Own Soul is top-notch. However, this is a pioneering work and possibly a groundbreaking collection.Technology, including the computer with its apotheosis in the smartphone, has taken over our lives, and it's not just phone jails that won't let you speak with a live human. Phones are so addictive that distracted mothers are pushing strollers in front of moving cars. We've figured out that you can't text and drive, but these are not the only problem.This book offers a deep-thinking look at the nexus of technology we live in, and draws on the riches of Orthodox Christian Tradition and broader learning, from an author steeped in classics-by an author who has a cellphone and has learned to tame it, is no longer glued to the screen and checking messages compulsively, and checks email once per day unless he needs to do otherwise.The thinking that got us into this fix won't solve it. This book offers thinking on a level that can give hope-and perhaps free you from a life run by your gadgets.You need this book!