Automation, a curse or a blessing?

‘Automation: curse or blessing?’ Or should it have been: ‘Automation: curse and blessing!’? For automation itself is a neutral thing; it is the way we use it that turns it into a curse or a blessing (see note19). This is in fact true for every invention. The television, the VCR, the computer; all of those provide the opportunity for true enjoyment, but they also have an addictive power capable of seducing us into a mechanical existence in which little true life can be found. It is therefore how we use them; something that has applied from Nobel’s dynamite over a century ago to the nuclear energy we discovered this century. But we have now invented something that may not be capable of destroying the world, but that is capable of freezing human life. Freezing it into fixed patterns that form a secured prison for human consciousness, captured in the web of (automated) thinking, as Krishnamurti would say. When he is older, this same Krishnamurti[36] wonders whether the human brain will atrophy (wither) when the computer takes over more and more of its functions. The blessing of this technology lies in bridging the discrepancy between the rhythm of nature and the artificial patters of culture, and preferably in reducing this gap. For as long as there is a Creation, we must live in it to the full26) and preferably control it in a professional manner27). Of course it is important to know how information technology can be used. Not in order to make Creation more complex, but in order to simplify it: the middle way between computer idiocy and computer illiteracy!

It is often said that automation is only a supporting function. This support, however, should not imply that our mechanical way of life runs more smoothly. Automation should support our awakening from our fixed patterns and habits. In theoretical physics, the discipline in which I got my doctorate, the mechanistic world view of Descartes was shattered at the beginning of this century. Automation may be the tool with which we can clear up the mechanistic patterns in our own minds. If automation and spiritual development go hand in hand, we can look forward to a new renaissance in which it is the duty of each IT professional to guard the human aspect in that automation. After all, it is a fascinating world we live in. If we can retrieve moderation, it will be pure heaven on earth to live in this physical world.

If, at the end of this discourse, you are left with more questions than answers, then we are on the right track, for the Kena-Upanishad[38] says: ‘If you think that you know It by examining nature, examine again.’ Answers close doors, questions can lead to awareness.

At the end of my speech, I would like to pose a posthumous question to Hermann Hesse[23]: what do you think of the serial I have conceived; have I associated enough?

After the first sentence from the New Testament I will conclude with the Old Testament[21] with the admonition from Ecclesiastes 12:12: ‘My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.’ And you, my dear audience, I thank you for the patience with which you would listen to me.