Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.
—St. Thomas Aquinas
For months I’ve kept that quote on my Facebook profile in honor of Saint Thomas Aquinas, my most admired theologian. I’ve rarely given much thought as to what it really means or how it defines and shapes my life online and off. Having read and analyzed much of his most storied work, The Summa Theologica, his work has continued to focus and shape my thoughts and actions.
Reason, for Aquinas, is a unique human characteristic that allows us to understand and contemplate the greater meaning of things. Through proper application of reasonable thought, actions and words can help propel mankind toward its most fully developed state in nature: the greatest good or its Summa Bonum.
How does one determine if a habit or action propels a man toward the greater or greatest good? Reason and prudence are the lenses through which the habit in question must be examined. One has to ask if following such a course will overall provide for a more full, just, and generally happier human condition in practice. This is not to say that some things can be unreasonable, nor that reason itself can be manipulated to determine the greatest evil.
Take for example, the application of reason to traffic law. Is it not reasonable to drive on the right-hand side of the road in America today? Why is it reasonable? Is it simply because the law tells us what is right or wrong? If so, does that imply that the British are unreasonable because they chose to drive on the left-hand side? No. Humans are creatures of habit, and as such they all choose a side on which to drive. Driving on that side means you are less likely to crash and injur yourself, thus it’s a reasonably safe practice of habit. The law is reasonable because it recognizes that habit and reinforces it.
How then, does reason apply to technology and its multitudinous applications? Is a technology reasonable just because it exists? Take blogging for example: is it reasonable to create a blog about hacking government servers just because the technology is there for you to do such a thing? While I’m on that thought, I could highlight the nature of security technologies too. Is it reasonable to track the movements of every individual throughout the country just because we have the technology that allows such a monumental task? I would say that it is not. The way technology is impacts people’s everyday habits and lives is the true measure of its reasonableness.
If a man is passionate about improving the process of computer programming, then it is reasonable that he blog about that subject to reflect upon and refine his thoughts. If he’s motivated to bring community groups together both online and offline, then it’s reasonable for him to blog about topics that concern his community. Whatever one uses the technology for, it’s reasonable insofar as it recognizes a common, just, and well-established human habit that leads to a greater good for mankind.
So how, specifically, are computer programming, internet marketing, social media, and blogging reasonable then? Are they then rendered unreasonable because they are fundamentally new activities? Have I proven myself false? The truth is quite the contrary. All of those things are digital expressions of human habits that have existed for countless centuries, well before the technologies that form them were a glimmer on the distant horizon.
One could trace computer programming back as far as the invention of the Chinese abacus. Internet marketing, fundamentally the act of selling a product or service, has been around as long as time has been recorded. Social media, the act of forming groups of friends and close-knit communities, is a centuries old human process too. How about blogging then? The distillation and development of thoughts and ideas with a keyboard and monitor differs very little from the use of paper and pen at the end of the day.
As reasonable habits, the prudence of their use can be understood and evaluated. In practice one must determine if they hold true to producing a greater good for society. One could form a social media hate group, a marketing scam, or an anarchy blog. Any of those things would produce a greater evil or state of decay rather than a greater good.
Technology is, amongst other things, an enabler. Its use is subject to the same principles of human reason as anything else we employ in our lives. We ought to take time to illuminate the uniquely human habits that utilize technology, much like Aquinas might do were he around in this day and age. In doing so we might better recognize prudent new ways through which we can reasonably make our technology adapt to us instead of the other way around.
