There Is No Technical fix

A New York Times article, Our Fix-It Faith and the Oil Spill quotes Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press,

Americans have a lot of faith that over the long run technology will solve everything, a sense that somehow we’re going to find a way to fix it.

He cites a 1999 poll in which he says they found us to be "naïvely optimistic about the fruits of technology: 81 percent said there would be a cure for cancer, 76 percent said we would put men on Mars." The article ends with Kohut referring to complaints when an Icelandic volcano sent plumes of ash over the continent, grounding airlines for a week. He said, "The reaction was: ‘Fix this. Fix this. This is outrageous.’" But there was no technical fix. The planes needed to wait until the ash dissipated. Not all our problems can or will have technical solutions.

The problems facing those seeking to master the deep sea oil leak reveals the problem of putting our faith in technology as not all our problems have technical solutions. Turning from such larger matters as volcanos and oil leaks to the more personal, we find folk looking for technical solutions in cosmetic surgery and abuse of alcohol and drugs. Instead of dealing with problems more directly, realistically, we can opt for technical solutions. Here again, there is not always a technical fix, but that does not mean we can get beyond God's redemption.

I am reminded me of a quotation I have shared previously in this space. Albert Rhett Stuart, the Sixth Bishop of Georgia told the techno-tuned folks of 1956,

People are discovering that a life full of gadgets is no satisfactory substitute for a life lived in the power and presence of God.

I am not seeking to minimize the natural disaster taking place deep under the Gulf, but to use this to point beyond the current crisis to the problem of relying on technology to save us in some larger sense, and while redemption is possible, it doesn't come through technology, but in relationship.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor