Technology and theology: intersection and implications

Peter Weyland's 2023 TED talk provides an intriguing perspective on the idea of a god and generates much controversy as a result of trying to change society's understanding of this concept. The power to create is indeed, an impressive feat, and it is only natural for humans to feel privileged because of coming to control this power. Weyland's speech is referring to androids whom people are going to have difficulties differentiating from real humans in a few years time. When regarding matters solely from the perspective provided by Ridley Scott's 2012 motion picture Prometheus, it would only be safe to say that the power to create provides one with the ability to relate to him or herself as being a god.

While Darwinism seems to be a powerful idea, many people prefer to think of their background as having had a creator. One can almost say that people are 'programmed' so as for them to relate to every complex concept or idea as leading back to an individual who created them. However, people are also 'programmed' to express curiosity and the need to discover more about themselves and their creators. This means that humanity will always be concerned about trying to find out more about its gods and its background in general.

The power to create is, to a certain degree, a measure of divinity because it involves an individual being responsible for creating another individual as a result of holding the power to do so. Even with this, when looking at matters from a theological point-of-view, one is likely to acknowledge that theology provides a stricter system differentiating between God and people. While people might be able to create androids, it would be impossible for them to create individuals who would be similar to them from all points-of-view.

Prometheus brings on a series of controversial ideas and it would only be normal for many people seeing it to accept that they were provoked to put across philosophical thought consequent to viewing the film. By being able to meet one's creator, the respective person is likely to be interested in associating a form of a grand narrative to his or her background. This is largely why people need religion with the purpose to explain their past. Theology virtually provides humanity with the opportunity to gain a more complex understanding of its background, especially considering that it has no clear data providing it with the opportunity to be certain of the events that occurred through time and made it possible for people to develop the way they did.

The character of David is intriguing and it appears to display feelings similar to humans by trying to question its creators. Thinking displayed by Weyland and Elizabeth Shaw is actually very comparable to sentiments that David puts across. He is curious and wants to be recognized for his ability to think on his own, without having to serve anyone. The fact that Shaw does not renounce God when she is provided with the ability to understand the complexity of her background is an attempt by the producers to show that the ability to create should not actually be associated with the measure of divinity.

Cloning is one of the greatest technological advancement in recent years and it provided society with the ability to understand that people actually hold great power over genetic material. Many are likely to express distrust concerning the matter as a result of associating it with science fiction or media stories emphasizing this concept as something scary and dangerous. When seen from a scientist's point-of-view, however, cloning is a much more complex idea. "It describes scientific techniques used to find out how living things grow. It is a tool for studying diseases and creating new medicines. It describes processes that have been used by crop farmers for hundreds of years." (Thomas 4)

Cloning brings on serious questions with regard to religion, taking into account that it goes against the idea that God is the only one who can create life. Many theologians are even likely to believe that individuals supporting cloning go against everything that religion stands for, taking into account that their actions might be interpreted as being in disagreement with the role of God.

Most religion communities are probable to be against cloning and this is actually bad when looking at matters from a scientific perspective. One needs to understand that technology makes it possible for society to evolve and for doctors to be able to fight diseases more effectively as a result of having access to ideas and concepts enabling them to rapidly identify maladies and to combat them with little to no effort.