Co-sponsored by Politics and Prose and the American Humanist Association
Today’s technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community. In Tech Agnostic, Harvard and MIT’s influential humanist chaplain Greg Epstein explores what it means to be a critical thinker with respect to this new faith. Encouraging readers to reassert their common humanity beyond the seductive sheen of “tech,” this book argues for tech agnosticism–not worship–as a way of life. Without suggesting we return to a mythical pre-tech past, Epstein shows why we must maintain a freethinking critical perspective toward innovation until it proves itself worthy of our faith or not.
Greg Epstein (photo by Cody O’Laughlin)
Epstein asks probing questions that center humanity at the heart of engineering: Who profits from an uncritical faith in technology? How can we remedy technology’s problems while retaining its benefits? Showing how unbelief has always served humanity, Epstein revisits the historical apostates, skeptics, mystics, Cassandras, heretics, and whistleblowers who embody the tech reformation we desperately need. He argues that we must learn how to collectively demand that technology serve our pursuit of human lives that are deeply worth living.
In our tumultuous era of religious extremism and rampant capitalism, Tech Agnostic offers a new path forward, where we maintain enough critical distance to remember that all that glitters is not gold–nor is it God.
Greg M. Epstein serves as the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard & MIT, and the Convener for Ethical Life at MIT’s Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life. TechCrunch’s first “ethicist in residence,” he is the author of Good Without God and has also written for MIT Technology Review, CNN.com, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and Newsweek.
Bina Venkataraman (photo by the New America Foundation)
Epstein will be in conversation with Bina Venkataraman. Bina is an American journalist, author, and science policy expert. She is currently Editor-at-Large for Opinion Strategy and Innovation and the inaugural Columnist of the Future at The Washington Post. From 2019 to 2022, she served as Editorial Page Editor of The Boston Globe, the youngest in its 150-year history, overseeing the news organization’s opinion coverage and editorial board during two presidential impeachment trials, the 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of George Floyd, the Capitol insurrection, and Boston’s historic 2021 mayoral election. During her tenure, the Globe had two Pulitzer finalists for editorial writing. She is the author of The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age (Riverhead, 2019), named a top business book by The Financial Times and a best book of the year by National Public Radio.
Attendance Details
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 – 7:00pm Eastern
Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
This event is free with first come, first serve seating.
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