Watching the World Go By
By Ralph Lynn
[Dr. Ralph Lynn is Professor Emeritus of History at Baylor University and a regular contributor to Christian Ethics Today]
Two late books-one on American social-economic problems and one on the impact promised by science in the near future-have set me to wondering if responsible religious leaders should not organize to study and propagandize in these areas as some are doing now in church/state relationships.
The authors of these two admirable books have done impressive research and have consulted all sorts of modern oracles except for their regrettable neglect of the voices of the religious.
It seems to me that the views presented in both books are quite adequately supported by their documentation.
David M. Gordon`s 1996 book, Fat and Mean: The Corporate Squeeze of Working Americans and the Myth of Managerial "Downsizing, "is a picture of the last fifteen years of our economic history. The following statements give the flavor of his book:
Although the American economy has been growing for fifteen years, "Over the past twenty years, real hourly take-home pay has declined by more than 10 percent.
- "The proportion of managers and supervisors in private non-farm employment has grown during the 1990s."
- The hourly workers have borne the brunt of the downsizlng.
- Donald V. Fires in 1990 made Caterpillar "the symbol of a hard-nosed, union-busting, conflictual management. In 1995 he won a poll of 3,300 CEOs as CEO of the year.
- A significant cause of the "decay of our moral fabric: the kinds of limited and corroding job opportunities that millions of Americans face."
- "Our corporations are unlikely to change their ways without serious pressure.
- In contrast with U. S. corporations, those of Japan and Germany take the "high road of fueling their growth with cooperation and trust" between management and workers. (Note: our religion could teach us something about management and trust, but Gordon neglects religion.)
Michio Kaku`s 1997 book, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century, is a fascinating, frightening, informed, responsible attempt to tell us about our near future.
Unhappily, he, like Gordon, neglects religion. The following statements indicate some of the startling glimpses of the future for millions of people now living:
- Whereas Newton saw himself as a boyish "observer on the seashore of knowledge," we, in the near future, will "make the transition from unraveling the secrets of Nature to becoming masters of Nature."
- Around 2030 or 2040, we may be having "relatively interesting conversations" with robots acting as secretaries and butlers, anticipating "when their masters are acting irrationally" and making "value judgments as to what is best for them."
- Scientists are aware that robots could "pose a threat to our existence" and have devoted a "fair amount of thinking to the problem."
- The Internet will radically change many kinds of business and may create mass unemployment. "Security First Network Bank of Pineville, Kentucky, is doing business entirely on the Internet today. No tellers. No line, No waiting. And no branches either. It means we don`t need all these bodies."
- Scientists foresee an economy "so productive that only a small percentage of the population can produce all the food and goods necessary to keep society going."
- In the not distant future, we may be able to have "designer children" and (my addition) designer soldiers cloned to produce armies. The Greek myth of Cadmus may be actualized by some future Hitler or Saddam Hussein.
Cadmus, needing soldiers, slew the dragon, planted the dragon`s teeth one day, and the next harvested a field full of giant, fully armed, fully trained combat soldiers. Since experience seems to show that what is scientifically-technologically possible is also inevitable, perhaps one should not dismiss this as fantasy. (Note: Kaku also neglects religion. Of literally dozens of big name consultants on his book, not one is a spokesman for religion.)
Ideally, we should have some alert, courageous, eloquent Old Testament prophet-types among our clergy and religion professors to alert us to our dangers and responsibilities.
Our world, however, is much more complicated than the Old Testament world, and our seminaries are not geared to educate the whole range of scholars.
It is encouraging to recall that the Old Testament prophets we honor most were not of the priestly order. Happily, we could easily form a committee of our qualified lay people to do for our responsibilities in the sciences what we have done so well for so long in church-state relationships.
Unless, as David M. Gordon warns, we can apply massive, organized pressure, our economic system will remain stacked against the majority of our people, we will continue to be bystanders as science expands its empire, and the world will continue to neglect religion because religion is negligible.
