Merton on the Media—Part 3

I wrote in the first blog of this series that Merton, after a couple of decades of deep devotion to the eremetic life at Gethsemani Abbey, increasingly became interested in world events. In order to inform himself and to understand what was happening in society, he became an avid reader of the news. He also developed an extremely busy correspondence with philosophers, religious figures, and scholars all over the world.

In the 1960s there was no internet that could be surfed to follow current events, and television was certainly not an authorized source of information in a monastery. Therefore, Merton read several daily newspapers and received numerous other periodicals and books in the mail. I am amazed at the volume of reading that he managed to do, while still participating in the monastic life. That said, as his reputation grew, he was increasingly relieved of daily monastery tasks, to allow him time to research and write.

Merton became very critical of America's mass media. He repeatedly described how poorly it informed people of current events, and that it often spread the propaganda of the country's rich and powerful. The media had become part of the corporate world and often served as the mouthpiece of corporate America. He described how the media diverted readers' attention with trivial pursuits and infatuation with celebrity affairs.

He wrote that “nine tenths of the news, as printed in the papers, is pseudo-news, manufactured events. Some days ten tenths.” He accused the media of being guilty of keeping violence, cruelty, and sadism ever present in society. He felt that this hyped-up information directly contributed to the public's tendency toward polarization and hatred.

Merton was especially troubled by America's violent culture. He had become an eloquent voice for the power of nonviolence, after becoming deeply devoted to Jesus' messages in the Sermon on the Mount. He also was inspired by Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, and Henry David Thoreau. He strongly supported the Civil Rights Movement that was unfolding at the time, and honored Martin Luther King, who also was strongly influenced by Gandhi. Both King and Merton vehemently opposed the Vietnam War—for which the media were complaisant, and they both became the target of hatred for doing so.

He wrote that, for most Americans the daily ritual of reading the newspaper was a form of “trance, in which one scans columns of newsprint, creates a peculiar form of generalized pseudo-attention to a pseudo-reality.” He went on to write “My own experience has been that renunciation of this self-hypnosis, of this participation in the unquiet universal trance, is no sacrifice to reality at all.”

I find it fascinating that Merton used the term “pseudo-reality” to describe the 1960s newspapers' content. I wonder what he would say about today's TV news, social media's outlandish postings, and fake news hype. I'm sure he would have something caustic to write about reality TV—quite likely dubbing it “pseudo-reality TV.”

Tool Mistreatment

Tools have been of tremendous benefit to humans. From the early use of stone tools (dating back millions of years... even before humans arrived on the scene) to the latest artificial intelligence (AI) machines, tools have enabled us to extend our senses and multiply our physical capabilities far beyond what nature gave us. Those first stone tools brought our ancestors powerful new ways to smash nuts to get at their interior, to cut up meat, to clean animal hides for clothing, and even to fashion other tools.

When those ancestors subsequently learned how to make metal tools, their capabilities dramatically expanded. The later invention of telescopes and microscopes extended our visual capacity out to the stars and into the interior of biological cells. The list is limitless. It extends all the way to today's computers that bring us almost unimaginably powerful capabilities—possibly the most impressive of which is AI.

Human culture would likely have remained on a par with chimpanzees, had we not been able to create this increasingly complex and powerful lineage of tools. A fascinating question that is often posed is how our big brain and our fantastic tools are causally connected. Can we attribute the evolution of our wonderful tools to our capacious cranium, or did our increasingly sophisticated tools demand a bigger brain to use them? It's sort of a chicken-and-egg conundrum. Whatever the answer, modern humans certainly depend on and benefit from our many kinds of tools.

Tools are a form of technology. The definition of a tool is traditionally considered to be a hand-held device, used for a specific type of occupation. In contrast, our modern tools are usually thought of as a form of technology—a word that generally describes machinery or equipment developed from or for scientific purposes. With these definitions, we can see that those primitive hand-held tools gradually morphed into various forms of technology. (Interestingly, the root of the word technology is the Greek word tekhnologle, which means “the systematic creation from art and/or craft.” This craft process seems to me to be exactly how the early stone tools came about.)

Unfortunately, tools and technology have also had a dark side—from the first stone hammer to the latest AI machine. Tools seem to have invited mistreatment from their very beginnings. The same rock that was used to crack a nut also soon got used to crack a human skull. Sharp flaked stone tools that allowed our ancestors to cut up a gazelle also got used as a weapon to cut up other humans. Those primitive metal knives cut meat better than stone, but soon saw use in warfare. And so it went, throughout our evolution.

A current mistreatment of a high-tech tool that billions of people have enjoyed using—Facebook—is causing all kinds of trouble for many people. Facebook is valued for its ability to keep people in instant and handy touch with each other, but there's a dark side to its use that is emerging. Commercial interests use big data algorithms to determine intimate behaviors of Facebook users and then entice them to buy billions of dollars worth of stuff they otherwise would not have bought—without those targeted ads.

Multinational actors use the same intimate data to manipulate people's behaviors through the use of fake news and other biased misinformation. Facebook, Google, Amazon, and other online businesses all exploit the power of AI—ostensibly to offer us convenience, but also to amass huge amounts of money by swaying our choices. And of course, many technologists today worry about the future dangers of AI robots—which some fear will either eliminate many current forms of employment or even enslave their creators, us humans.

I am not equipped to explain why it is that Homo sapiens is such a brilliant creator of so many wonderful tools that make our lives so pleasant, but then also get used as one form of weapon or another—weapons which make so many lives miserable, or even terminate them. Philosophers and pious people have pondered and debated that issue for millennia. They have offered many diverse explanations—and most of those explanations clash with each other.

Whatever the cause of human behavior that leads us to mistreat our tools, there certainly are countless examples of how we've perpetually done it. One factor is that we seem to be suckers for the latest technology. Show me a new, convenient and efficacious tool, and I'll want one. Tell me about an attractive technology that's about to be offered, I'll want one. Our initial intentions are rarely wicked; we simply focus on the advantages, and thus we enthusiastically pursue the new tool.

But sooner—rather than later—it seems that someone will find a way to mistreat the new tool; even if they don't deliberately do so. Is it greed? Laziness? Merciless competition? Seeking power over others? Or is it largely due to the fact that we just move too fast, and can't seem to pause and exercise a little precaution? I suppose it's all of these and more.

Yes, tool mistreatment is an ancient bad habit of humans. It's caused untold suffering. And it doesn't appear that we are in the process of reining ourselves in. The scary part is the fact that our tools have become so powerful that their misuse can do damage beyond our control.