By some estimates, humanity is on the verge of a new cognitive revolution that would take human beings to a drastically different existential state from that which took place with the first cognitive revolution about 70,000 years ago.[1] That event in human history allowed Homo Sapiens to drastically change the way they communicated and associated with one another, and in the course of history would lead to great human developments in agriculture, industry, science and presently, digital technology. It is the latter two—science and digital technology—many believe, that will usher humanity into a new reality that will raise many new questions about human’s relationship to technology and even the very nature of what it means to be human. Until the present, the responsibility to interpret and evaluate human developments has usually been taken up by philosophy, religion and deep thinkers from various fields of study such as history, anthropology and psychology. This chapter considers the role of religion in this new milieu and asks the question whether religion can still maintain relevancy in the face of a new scientific and technocentric consciousness that seemingly contradicts traditional religious sensibility. Here, we specifically ask whether religion ought to have a voice in the face of the colossal scientific and social shifts brought about by digital technology. There seems to be a persistent, if not growing opposition against religions inserting their voices into matters of science and technology, maintaining that the religious perspective is not only unnecessary and irrelevant, but also counterproductive in the formation of the digital future.
[1] Yuval
Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History
of Tomorrow (Harpers Collin Publishers, 2016), 260, epub version.
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