I am Gen Xer (born 1965–1980). One of many life labels that’s been assigned to me. A moniker that describes something about me, without being unique to me like being born in the United States. What is distinctive when talking about my generation, is that we are the last analog generation.
While some sociologists and researchers may differ slightly on the name and timing of the last analog cohort, what doesn’t change is generational experience. Sometime in the mid-1980’s, kids were no longer tethered solely to the human race. Instead, we became hitched to machines, that would direct, inform, track and organize our lives. These machines would also become the primary conduit that connects us with other humans. Networking brought to you by the network so to speak.
Like capitalism, the age of computers delivered on its promise that our lives’ would be more efficient, but that efficiency would come at a cost that we still don’t fully understand. The dazzling promises of technology are just as tempting to the human spirit now as it was for our ancestors in a garden with forbidden fruit. Elvis has left the building, and Pandora has opened her box.
My childhood and teenage years still seem magical to me. Like every generation of kids that ever were, we played outside. The sun was both colleague and chaperone but never cancerous. We grew and played in its warm light and returned home only when that warm glow faded to reveal a cool darkness. Our feral lives were tracked by the sun not air tags.
Contemporary upbringing is characterized by screens that tell children mistruths, lies and falsehoods. Manipulating young minds in service to profit as opposed to play. Elevating fear as opposed to freedom and restraining imagination to show-off some software. Digital trappings that sabotage childhood to create an adulthood of compliance.
Never before in human history had social and media been joined together. Prior to that first cousin marriage, every conversation and every human interaction happened in real-time with real people. Life’s moments were lived, not recorded. We shared stories instead of posting pictures.
Even if a picture is worth a thousand words, they never truly convey the expressive energy of those who participate in life. The intimacy of sharing stories with our friends and family in person has been outsourced for immediate gratification on social media. Efficient but never as emotional as being live.
Human tone and expression can never be replaced by text and emoji’s. Screens can never replace our senses. Modern life has become a series of flat visuals as opposed to a saga of faithful vivacity.
But the biggest deception of the digital age and transhumanism, is conflating machines with humans. Humans are not machines and machines are not humans. Machines, no matter how artificially “intelligent” they might be or become will never be truly human. Humans are created in the image of God; machines are created in our image.
This is why intimacy matters, even more then efficiency, because humans are called to be children of God. Computers are objects. Humans are subjects. Computers are about productivity. Humans are about passion. Computers do not love. Humans do not exist without love. God is love.
Intimacy is a feeling of closeness and connection with other humans, particularly friends and family. It’s a mixture of trust, familiarity and shared values. The exact opposite of a world that strives for impersonal efficiency.
Intimacy takes time and work and whose results are long-term. Technology is about reducing time and work with the expectation of immediate results. Two different approaches to human flourishment. One has been used by humans for thousands of years, the other novel and delegated to devices. Soulless machines that seek to replicate the soul of human connections; intimacy.
Is it really a surprise that the world in the age of information has become more disconnected, more lonely, more unhealthy? Is it really a surprise that technology continues to be employed to manipulate, suppress, and defame? Is it really a surprise that spiritual evil is still at work trying to destroy humanity?
When we strip the world of intimacy, we replace what is uniquely human with a false misrepresentation of what it means to be human. The greatest human I know was about love, not efficiency. The highest calling any human has is to love God and one another, not intelligence. The ultimate life any human can live is love centered which demands genuine intimacy, not artificial impersonation.
Peace. God loves you.
If you want to learn more about how my spiritual awakening came to be, you can read about it in Finding God in Vegas: A Gen X Spiritual Awakening; available on Amazon and across all platforms in print or electronic or audio.