Category: Technology
Lost At Sea, in Space, in the Cloud
Two of my favorite films of recent months, Gravity and All is Lost, have more than a few things in common. Both are basically one-man or one-woman shows about individuals trying to survive in an incomprehensibly vast wilderness. Gravity finds...
Selfie Deception
What and how we consume says a lot about what we value. And what and how we consume has never been more public. Thanks to the broadcasting devices in our pockets and the social network audiences always just a few...
Marijuana, Caffeine, and a Therapeutic Drug Culture
That’s the subject of my latest essay over at The Gospel Coalition. Here’s my concluding paragraphs: Yet the more interesting cases come closer to us. Consider the interrelationship between caffeine and marijuana. On the one hand, many of us rely...
Is Ethical Advocacy Enough? A Dialogue on Digital Rights and Art
Editor’s Note: This is the final piece in our series on the music industry. The first part, written by Matt Miller, dealt with the suggestion that we remove DRM altogether; the second part, written by Stephen Carradini, detailed the power...
Consumption and the Creator’s (lack of) Power
Editor’s Note: This is part two of this week’s series on the music industry. Don’t miss the first post, written by Matt Miller, here. Come back on Friday to read a dialogue between Miller and the author of today’s post,...
Advocacy and Ending Copyright Infringement
Editor’s note: We like thinking through every area of culture here at Mere-O, which is why I’m delighted that we’re going to spend a little time talking about the way technological changes have affected people’s ability to make money–and what...
What makes the edifi “Christian?” On Media, Habits, and Christian Virtue
Last week news spread about the release of Family Christian’s edifi, which is being billed as the world’s first Christian multimedia tablet. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. At least I know what you should be thinking. What exactly makes...
Resisting the Rhetoric of Technological Inevitability
Articles about technology often come with a snappy, provocative question for a title. Take, for example, two of the most widely discussed tech articles in recent memory, both of which appeared in The Atlantic: Nicholas Carr’s “Is Google Making Us...
What Social Networks Do–And Don’t Do–for Churches
Back in December, I had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable for Christianity Today about the prospects and limits of social networking for churches. Here’s my opening: The benefits of social networking are many but require judicious and...
The Chaos Curve: Writers’ Block and the Ever-Writing Woman
I’m beginning to realize that the writers’ block I struggle with comes, not from a lack of ideas, but from being absolutely tired of my own output. Modern life, or at least my modern life, seems to require a constant...