The religion of tech

I am late to the party here as always when it comes to books, but I am finally going to start Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I was skimming the book Q&A by Yuval at the end of the book when I came across this question.

I like to joke about the cult-like tendencies in the tech world, but Yuval explains what I’ve been missing. Tech has become some sort of religion complete with both the good and bad of traditional religion. The parallels are a bit uncanny.

At the most basic terms, both religion and tech promise a better future, a symbolism of hope if you will. Many tech companies have mission statements catered to change the world for the better. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Uber all refer to everyone, world, or earth in their mission statements.

And yes, tech has their cults and people who think they are demi-gods too. No need to list names here, but you don’t have to go far to find your cult-like leaders out there.

Like traditional religion, technology will have the power drive people to madness and kill, or even worse, start wars leading to the deaths of millions.

For better or for worse, tech has become the most important and popular religion in the world right now. Whether the promise of the better future comes through is still TBD. I am an optimist and believe that tech can be the driver of a better tomorrow.