The New Year is upon us, and the only reason we know that is thanks to the Egyptians. And the Catholic Church! Clocks, calendars, and timekeeping tech on our final episode of 2019. Wait a second: What does being a “good Christian” have to do with clocks and calendars? The connections surprised us too… From sunsets to seconds, we’ve been tracking time for all of human history. To the point that we forget that calendars and clocks are technologies too. And like any technology, timekeeping has its ...
Dec 30, 2019•37 min•Season 3Ep. 6
How does Google Maps decide what route you should take? How does Spotify determine what kind of music you might like? And if I wanted to get a job at those companies, how would they choose one application out of a thousand resumes? Decide. Determine. Choose. That’s what algorithms do. Everything from song recommendations to health insurance rates to prison sentencing, companies and governments are using algorithms more than ever. But news reports seem to come out every other week exposing how bi...
Dec 02, 2019•38 min•Season 3Ep. 5
From autism to advertising, technology is reading people’s emotions like never before. Some say emotional intelligence is being outsourced. Others predict emotion tech is on the cusp of a multi-billion dollar payday. So . . . how do YOU feel about that? No worries, the technology already knows. Just like FitBit changed how we relate to our bodies, emotion tech will change how we relate to our feelings. Could it train us to be more empathetic and understanding? Or numb us to real human connection...
Nov 18, 2019•34 min•Season 3Ep. 4
What if we told you that at the Last Supper, Jesus taught us something about text messaging? Sounds far-fetched, right? But the connections will have you rethinking what “IRL” really means. Adam & Chris dive into our daily experiences of texting—especially that moment when your friend stops listening because a new text lights up their phone. Yeah, you know that moment. Key Questions Should we text when we are with other people? What does it mean to be present? Or absent? Which emoji is your ...
Nov 05, 2019•36 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Special Conference Episode! Chris & Adam join a conference for pastors on technology called Teche: A Christian View of Technology, put on by the Center for Pastor Theologians. This is our same-day hot-takes—recorded live on location! Stuff like: What’s the difference between a musical instrument and a Roomba? How is the Eucharist like technology? How the church could be more like a forest path TALK BACK Follow Device & Virtue on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Chris and Adam on Twitter. Su...
Oct 22, 2019•37 min•Season 3Ep. 2
What do you think? Are selfies narcissistic? Yes, right? But we’re starting season 3 off right and taking one of our own. Selfies have become part of normal life. We see them. We take them. We see other people taking them too. And while they may be normal, do they show us anything real? Chris and Adam dive into identity, authenticity, and the image of God to look for answers, with a few embarrassing stories along the way. LINKS Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age, by Craig D...
Oct 07, 2019•37 min•Season 3Ep. 1
What do you think Siri looks like? Is she someone you would tell your secrets to? She’s not a person—but she’s getting more personal than ever—could she change our real relationships? In this episode Chris & Adam chat up the voice part of “voice assistants.” More talking and less typing—what happens when as we shift our interaction with technology to the very personal medium of voice? LINKS & QUOTES Alexa, How Will You Change Us by Judith Shulevitz (The Atlantic) Female Voice Assistants ...
Jul 22, 2019•41 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Ever pass the plate in church and there’s nothing in there? Smartphones are the new tithing tech—building church budgets—even as they shape our souls! Adam & Chris cash in on the question: what happens when the cash goes out? Digital giving has been slowly growing for years and in our city of Chicago, cashless is the new normal for many folks. Venmo—the money app we use most often—reports 40 million users with $21 billion passing through the app at the beginning of 2019 (Q1). Paypal, it’s pa...
Jul 08, 2019•33 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Does technology control history? Or does history control tech? Adam & Chris take sides. When major technologies hit the world stage, do they upend human history? There are a couple camps out there in scholarship. But one of the big questions is—how big of an influence is technology on human society? Tech Controls History (Chris) History Controls Tech (Adam) TALK BACK Follow Device & Virtue on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Chris and Adam on Twitter. Support Device & Virtue on Patreon....
Jul 01, 2019•39 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Imagine: You’re pregnant and your doctor offers you a DNA edit so your baby can avoid a terminal illness. Do you do it? That decision is coming sooner than you think. Turns out an expert professor on DNA-editing (who is also a Christian) had some early conversations with the Chinese scientist who shocked the world in 2018 by editing two real babies DNA. The trouble is, the Chinese scientist has some compelling moral reasoning for what he did: and he explains them on YouTube. What do we think of ...
Jun 24, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Would you be OK if your church tracked you the way Facebook does? Some churches already are. When Adam meets representatives for a church software company, he can’t help but interrogate them for half an hour. He brings his reconnaissance back, and he and Chris sit down to discuss just how they feel about how churches are tracking their congregations. This is Big Data on a church’s scale. Find out what data churches are already tracking and how these powerful platforms could inform the pastoral i...
Jun 10, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Some people think the next great evangelist will reach more people than Billy Graham ever did. And they’re already programming the artificial intelligence to do it. When Chris and Adam meet an Australian who’s already programmed an AI chatbot to do evangelism, they look at each other and wonder, “Can a chatbot really spread the Gospel?” Only to realize that evangelism chatbots are not quite as unprecedented as they first appear to be. Still, this new generation of tech-driven evangelism forces t...
Jun 03, 2019•39 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Has your pastor preached a sermon on Facebook settings or surveillance cameras? Mine hasn’t. Does the Bible really have anything to say about digital privacy? And—is Alexa actually listening to us in my kitchen? Chris wrote the cover story for Christianity Today on a Christian view of digital privacy. He started out by going to parties and asking “When was a time your privacy was violated?” So Adam interviews Chris about what he found out including: What is the “intimacy paradox”? Are you a “cit...
May 27, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Last summer, Chicago Cubs baseball player Ben Zobrist got thrown out of the game when he turned to the umpire and complained “that’s why we want an electronic strike zone”. Who is a better witness to the truth—a person … or a computer? On a more serious note: This question became especially relevant in Chicago. Chris & Adam watched the race-charged trial of the police officer who shot black teenager Laquan MacDonald. A police video camera became the key piece of evidence the jury trusted ove...
May 15, 2019•37 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Adam & Chris start a podcast. By arguing. TALK BACK Follow Device & Virtue on Instagram and Twitter. Follow Chris and Adam on Twitter. Support Device & Virtue on Patreon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 07, 2019•3 min
So Chris found an article from 1962 called “Is Technology Diabolical?” What do you think Adam said . . . German theologian Helmut Thielicke posed this question more than 50 years ago, and it’s more relevant than ever. Chris and Adam unpack Thielicke's article and the most challenging questions it poses. Questions like, “If humanity wasn't sinful, would we need technology?” And, “Can humans avoid moral responsibility by blaming technology?” Chris and Adam find themselves wondering, What does tech...
Mar 26, 2017•33 min•Season 1Ep. 8
CS Lewis became a household name because of the Radio. So why did he get rid of the one in his own house? What did CS Lewis think about technology? He had strong opinions about the radio and other technologies inhabiting our lives. Chris and Adam sit down to talk about what CS Lewis thought about technology, and also how he lived with it personally. Drawing from published work like Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength as well as Lewis's private letters, Adam and Chris explore why Lewis got...
Mar 13, 2017•35 min•Season 1Ep. 7
The merging of human and machines sounds like an Ironman movie. But it’s actually happening right now. We even found some Christians who are praying this is the next big thing. Has humanity reached the end of its evolution, or could technology light the path for the next stage of human development? People like Neil Harbison believe technology could be just the beginning. Advancements in medicine have brought humans and devices closer and closer together, but where’s the line between healing some...
Jan 23, 2017•35 min•Season 1Ep. 6
You’ll never guess who just released an ethics statement all about the values they are trying to promote. It’s not the government or your church. Yeah. It’s Facebook. Included in this episode: All the morals of scrolling through those cat pictures. How do Facebook and Instagram decide what you see every time you scroll through? Deciding what to show you involves value judgments. If it always showed you the most recent post first, the value would be “newest = most important.” But Facebook’s algor...
Jan 04, 2017•34 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Our grandparents met because they lived in the same neighborhood. Today, we meet because we’re on the same app. From dating scenes to dating screens, the Internet has turned your parent's relationship into a foreign world. Aziz Ansari, in his book Modern Romance, dives deep into how the Internet has transformed love and relationships. From intimacy and transparency to cheating, sexting, and breaking up, we look at some of the stories and research from his book, and discuss what they mean for Chr...
Jul 10, 2016•35 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Some day your computer will drive your car. “Ok Google, Take Me To Church!” Could driverless cars alter church life? Could they even impact Christian beliefs? As we outsource human activities to technology, those devices come to define our human activities, and even our ways of thinking. How will driverless cars impact church attendance, parking problems, demographic shifts, embodiment, church geographic reach? How will they influence how we think about ourselves as humans? Adam and Chris raise ...
Apr 22, 2016•33 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Facial recognition is everywhere—it’s how you unlock your iPhone, and some cops are even using it. So what if your church did? Software companies are already stepping into the sanctuary. Sure, we might expect China or Facebook or Apple to use facial recognition, but what standards or expectations should we have for churches using it? Could facial recognition help make large churches more personal … or more anonymous? Facial recognition inhabits more and more spaces in our lives and our society, ...
Apr 17, 2016•29 min•Season 1Ep. 2
When did social media start? In 2004 when Facebook started? Nope, try the 1st century! Social media is anything but new and early Christians played a key role in its growth, Tom Standage argues in his book, Writing in the Wall. We dive in to look his claim that social media existed in the Roman Empire and and that the church influenced its development with their own system upgrades. What does it mean for the Church today that early Christianity developed in an age of Roman social media? TALK BAC...
Apr 03, 2016•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1
