Pope: Technology Needs To Be Used For The Benefit Of People

In his remarks to attendees of a workshop on the relationship between people, emerging technologies, and the common good, Pope Francis emphasizes the need for science and technological advancement to always be in service of human dignity and full human development.

The Pontifical Academy for Life is hosting a two-day workshop on the moral implications of the so-called “Converging Technologies” as it holds its general 바카라 노하우 assembly this week (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Cognitive Science).

The international workshop, titled “Converging on the Person: Emerging Technologies for the Common Good,” will be held on February 20 and 21, and it will feature academics from all across the world.

Pope Francis outlined three key issues in this delicate area “where progress, ethics, and society intersect,” where “religion, in its perennial relevance, can give a meaningful contribution,” in his presentation to the participants on Monday.

The impact of technological advances on human living conditions.

The first difficulty is the quick shift in human living standards brought on by technology advancement. Indeed, as evidenced by the numerous crises the world is currently experiencing, from the pandemic to the energy crisis, from climate change to migration, the “strength and acceleration” of these advancements are having an unprecedented effect on the environment and on human living conditions, “with effects and developments that are not always clear and predictable.” Because of this, “healthy technological growth cannot fail to take into consideration this complicated interweaving.”

Technology cannot replace human contact and must not forget the vulnerable

The second issue is how new technologies are changing our understanding of what it means to be “human” and “relational,” particularly in light of how vulnerable people are treated. Pope Francis emphasized the need for “a serious reflection on the very value of humanity” and in particular to “reaffirm the importance of the concept of personal conscience as a relational experience, which cannot disregard either corporality or culture.” He noted that the technological form of human experience is becoming ever more “pervasive.”

“Technology cannot replace human touch, the virtual cannot replace the real, and social media cannot replace the social sphere in the network of interactions, both subjective and communal.”

The Pope continued by saying that even within scientific research processes, the interaction between the individual and the community signals “increasingly complex ethical implications,” citing the urgent need to ensure equal access to care “especially for the most fragile persons such as the disabled, the sick, and the poor.”

In light of this, he stated that it is crucial “to monitor the pace of changes, the interaction between changes, and the potential for ensuring an overall balance,” while also bearing in mind that this equilibrium varies across cultures.

“Efforts should be made to ensure that everyone develops in a manner that is distinctive to them, building their capacity for innovation beginning with the values of their own culture,” the author writes.

Promoting mutual understanding between science, technology and society

The third difficulty is the definition of the term “knowledge” and its repercussions. The Pope emphasized the need for more “articulated models,” taking into account “the braiding of relationships from which the single occurrences are woven” instead of overly simplistic approaches, noting that “the type of knowledge we implement already has in itself moral implications.”

In this regard, he stated that the concept of a human-centered technical knowledge based on the tenets of “the whole is greater than the part” and “everything in the world is intimately connected” can foster a “renewed way of thinking also in the theological sphere.” This idea was highlighted in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and, more importantly, in his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’. As a matter of fact, he asserted, “it is desirable that theology continues to transcend eminently apologetic methods, to contribute to the definition of a new humanism, and to encourage mutual listening and mutual understanding between science, technology, and society.”

“The absence of a positive dialogue between (science, technology, and society) impoverishes the mutual trust that constitutes the cornerstone of all human interaction and all manifestations of “social friendship”,” according to the study.

Role of religions. Pope Francis also highlighted the crucial contribution religious traditions can give to this dialogue, noting that their ancient wisdom “can help in these processes.”

“The absence of a positive dialogue between (science, technology, and society) impoverishes the mutual trust that constitutes the cornerstone of all human interaction and all manifestations of “social friendship”,” according to the study.