Technology and the Human Purpose

Brian Wixted and Nick Toews

In a discussion ranging over the full history of human making (stone tools to modern cities), we centre our perspective of human purpose within a Christian worldview. Our distinctive focus centres on how the Bible's lens on a diverse range of technologies starts within its ancient culture. However, its theological position often transforms those ideas with its own unique moral imagination. Bringing the Bible's ideas to bear on times and places beyond the text, we must grapple with the original cultures and the theological transformation.

  1. 11h ago

    S6E10 Techumanpurpose •• EEAAO – All At Once (Almost) – Humans and the AI event horizon Part 2

    In this episode I continue to discuss the "AI moment" - what I call the Event Horizon. It was recorded before the announcement of the signing of the a ceasefire between the USA and Iran.  Covered in this episode: Gig work, how to think about the person, the tech bro phenomena and their seemingly hatred of people (and this I will say I AI-ed with Google Gemini to a fairly good extent). Whether, they do hate humanity is an open question but they do come across as if they do.  A discussion of order and disorder. In retrospect what I didn't include was the potential rationale that AI will lead to disorder being behind their leanings towards extreme libertarianism mixed with authoritarian leadership.  Ethics versus micro choices.  And a bit of poetry on human flourisng.  This is the notes for both epsiodes. YouTube by Hannah Fry - a must watch really. _Why AI Agents are either the best or worst thing we've ever built_. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzR5aOElvw Nvidia and SpaceX - IPO – Bloomberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J63KvjQlN8M&t=2s Holy Post podcast 722 they talked about the impacts of the cuts to USAID.  The Lancet. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2014/07/07/douglas-adams-technology-rules/ CBC Frontburner podcast May 11. – regarding incentives but it is partial. Youtube video by More Perfect Union  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aooiDA-AsNo MIT Technology  Review podcast= The gig workers who are training humanoid robots at home. The Economist May 30th 2026 p63 Barteby How Should Bosses Talk about AI Legal activity problems with AI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgN0fyYKLfc (audio) "Big Tech" versus humans references. https://peoplevsbig.tech https://peoplevsbig.tech/the-movement/ https://www.reddit.com https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1mejq1d/tech_ceos_dont_seem_to_realise_just_how_antihuman/ https://www.linkedin.com https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mikerosenbergwriting_the-reason-so-many-people-passionately-hate-activity-7460395755845869571-vUFG https://www.linkedin.com https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/human-capital-boards-common-blind-spot-j%C3%B8rgensen-gcb-d-nacd-dc-md0wc https://futurism.com https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-ceos-baffled-hatred https://www.facebook.com https://www.facebook.com/groups/875231447226552/posts/1099404598142568/ https://futurism.com https://futurism.com/future-society/tech-ceo-ai-hate https://keenon.substack.com https://keenon.substack.com/p/why-tech-billionaires-are-so-angry https://www.youtube.com https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ogxwPyJPTMw https://www.humanrightsresearch.org https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/big-tech-s-shift-to-the-right https://www.instagram.com https://www.humanrightsresearch.org/post/big-tech-s-shift-to-the-right https://www.amnesty.org https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/why-are-big-tech-companies-a-threat-to-human-rights/ https://www.thetimes.com https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/how-world-of-work-changed-times-enterprise-network-t0zvf96wv https://www.wheresyoured.at https://www.wheresyoured.at/techs-elite-hates-labor/ https://medium.com https://medium.com/@adrianbooth/tech-ceos-whos-the-meanest-of-them-all-a684a7da0d20 https://www.reddit.com https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/bhuyjy/the_elitist_nature_of_tech_culture_and_why_its/   https://en.wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_bro https://medium.com https://medium.com/@l.churchill427/why-tech-bros-are-fleeing-silicon-valley-insiders-view-9c4e05f7ab2a https://www.reddit.com https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1oy535n/tech_capitalists_dont_care_about_humans_literally/ https://nypost.com https://nypost.com/2020/09/26/why-silicon-valley-ceos-are-such-raging-psychopaths/ https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/idols-of-the-valley

    38 min
  2. Apr 7

    S6E7 Techumanpurpose •• EEAAO Everything (nearly) - Services change is mostly manufactured

    This is the second season of my roll of the dice series. In this season I am focussing of the changes throughout the economy, and less on the values behind and being pushed by those changes. I think it is really important to take stock and observe so we are clear about what is happening. This episode really is about everything. Well almost. The technological disruptions occurring across the enormous services sector are fascinating. This is just a little snapshot of the last few years of developments.  Covered in this episode. D Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply E Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities F Construction G Wholesale and retail trade H Transportation and storage I Accommodation and food service activities J Publishing, broadcasting, and content production and distribution activities K Telecommunications, computer programming, consultancy, computing infrastructure, and other information service activities L Financial and insurance activities M Real estate activities N Professional, scientific and technical activities O Administrative and support service activities P Public administration and defence; compulsory social security Q Education R Human health and social work activities S Arts, sports and recreation T Other service activities U Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use V Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies ------- Some notes  Global supply chains. https://unctad.org/news/gas-grain-fertilizer-disruptions-raise-risks-food-security-and-trade  https://www.economies.com/forex/news/beyond-oil:-which-global-supply-chains-has-the-iran-conflict-disrupted%20-48545   The intro and outro music is 'fantasy orchestra' available at https://freesound.org/

    50 min
  3. 12/16/2025

    S6E3 Techumanpurpose •• (A)EEAAO The (Almost) Everything Revolution - the periodic and bio table of our economy.mp3

    The episode is all about how we use stuff and how much we use. From growing almonds to cooling data centres to our global probably unsustainable use of sand.  Just a few of the resources used to make this podcast. Australian social media ban for under 16s https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/04/social-media-ban-instagram-facebook-accounts-shutting-down-closing-teen-under-16-australia  Almonds production. https://www.almonds.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/Water_footprint_plus_almonds.pdf  2012 PNAS. The water footprint of humanity Arjen Y. Hoekstra and Mesfin M. Mekonnen www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1109936109  Water and Data centres https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/16163527-can-deleting-eails-help-save-water-drought  Data Centres AI Power and Water Usage (Goodyear Data Centre). https://andthewest.stanford.edu/2025/thirsty-for-power-and-water-ai-crunching-data-centers-sprout-across-the-west/  Really excellent explanation.https://theconversation.com/data-centers-consume-massive-amounts-of-water-companies-rarely-tell-the-public-exactly-how-much-262901# MIT Technology Review - We did the math on AI's energy footprint. Here's the story you haven't heard.   ABC – Globally Sand is a problem. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-25/sand-mining-impacts-vietnam-bridges/104511578\  https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/sand-shortage-daniel-franks/105918556   The intro and outro music is 'fantasy orchestra' available at https://freesound.org/

    51 min

About

In a discussion ranging over the full history of human making (stone tools to modern cities), we centre our perspective of human purpose within a Christian worldview. Our distinctive focus centres on how the Bible's lens on a diverse range of technologies starts within its ancient culture. However, its theological position often transforms those ideas with its own unique moral imagination. Bringing the Bible's ideas to bear on times and places beyond the text, we must grapple with the original cultures and the theological transformation.