Means With No Ends
I’ve only reached middle age, but I’ve already lived to see the world remade by the introduction of personal computers and then remade again as we brought the power of the internet into our pockets with smartphones. It’s now obvious that another transformation is underway in the development of AI. As it was in the early days of other technologies, no one knows exactly what AI will mean for us long-term, but no one can deny that our world and our lives are changing fast. Humanity is always grasping for more power and control over everything we see and touch, developing new and better tools for ourselves, and we’ve been quite successful: no generation has ever had tools as powerful as the ones we wield today. This sounds like it ought to be good news, but most of us aren’t so sure. Humanity doesn’t have a great track record in using our tools well. I came across an observation recently that cuts through our progress to one of our biggest underlying problems:
“The first great fact which emerges from our civilisation is that today everything has become “means.” There is no longer an “end”; we do not know wither we are going. We have forgotten our collective ends, and we possess great means: we set huge machines in motion in order to arrive nowhere.” – Jacue Sellul
What good are tools if we don’t know what we’re making? What good is an engine if we don’t know where we’re going? We’ll only go around in ever-more efficient and stylish circles like ever-improving race cars going around an endless loop, knocking into each other with ever-increasing force. We don’t want to be left behind, so we pick up the pace. Is anyone willing to pause long enough to ask the fundamental question—“why?”
Without a clear end, the impressiveness of our means doesn’t help us. Without a clear end, the power of our means actually becomes a threat—enabling us to drive ourselves more quickly in the wrong direction. The trouble with our tools is not their power. Power can be harnessed for good, and great power can be harnessed for great good. But for that to happen, it is vital—urgent—that we rediscover who we are as humans, and why we’re here. Otherwise, we’ll lose ourselves, or destroy ourselves, with the awesome power of our misdirected means.
It doesn’t have to be that way. God has clearly revealed the truth about himself, and about ourselves, in his word. It is sobering in its realistic assessment of our sin, yet full of hope for redemption in Jesus Christ. It reveals the ends, and untangles the means. It shows us where to go, and why, and even how. It gives us the road markings we need to keep the power of our tools inside true ethical boundaries so that they can be harnessed for genuine good. It gives us real meaning and purpose—a clear finish line for the race of living, so that we can stop going around the same old self-destructive circles. It’s all there. God’s word is the map that directs our means to ends that are true and beautiful, good and glorious. Have you read your Bible today?
