From Ideology to Technology
Ideology is generally understood as the science of ideas, but this definition is vague. The common specification defines it as a comprehensive intellectual system built on hypotheses and theories that express the positions of individuals and groups toward society and humanity, based on specific determinants.
Ideologies have diversified. There is philosophical ideology, social ideology, and political ideology, which should form the basis of political action and to which politicians and thinkers adhere to a high degree, influencing their positions, discourse, behavior, and codifying their relationships with others.
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There is also religious ideology, some of which has remained within the purely religious framework, meaning it is linked to faith and concerned with individual salvation through spiritual elevation and closeness to the Creator. Meanwhile, some of it has deviated into a totalitarian political system to frame and polarize people, dividing society into two camps: the camp of truth for believers, and the camp of falsehood for dissenters.
As for technology, which has become one of the most important, if not the most important, capabilities upon which modern societies are formed, it is the totality of technologies, skills, and tools used to achieve various goals, facilitating human life by reshaping perceptions and developing productive capacities in all fields.
Its impact has manifested in the structures of human society, turning the Earth into a global village by enabling communication, bridging distances, facilitating the flow of information through easier access to its resources, spreading cultures, and globalizing civilization. All of this means harnessing technology to serve humanity and enhance its well-being.
Before we define the frameworks for transitioning from ideology to technology, we leave it to objectivity to examine the negative aspects of both concepts. Despite the benefits the global community has gained from technological progress, negative effects have emerged in many areas. The constant addiction to screens has weakened direct communication between individuals, especially members of the same family, leading to what is called family isolation and the weakening of familial bonds. Furthermore, it has become possible to violate personal privacy by accessing internet users’ data and stealing their sensitive identities. Additionally, there is the erosion of skills in authorship, writing, composing, and translation due to total reliance on artificial intelligence.
As for the negatives of ideology, they begin with the blind adherence of its proponents, driven by extreme fanaticism, such that these individuals reject all facts and consequences of progress that contradict their beliefs. Moreover, conflicts ignite between them and societal factions within their “ghettos,” where any possibility of understanding or dialogue is absent. The most alarming aspect is that these ideologues consider those who disagree with them as enemies to be punished, suppressed, and subjected to violent means, up to assassination... This is but a drop in the ocean.
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In comparison: Technological progress may be accused of the crime of developing lethal weapons that, when used in wars and conflicts, have claimed many lives, and this cannot be doubted. It is also accused of replacing humans, particularly the exercise of mental capacities, as machines are faster, more accurate, and more comprehensive. But is ideological extremism less criminal than technology?
The closed, radical totalitarian ideology, trapped in its own technological obsessions, perpetuates human tragedies, crimes, and desecrations, eliminating those it deems traitors, enemies of the people, or infidels. These acts are carried out by “mechanical” killers who perform them with a sense of duty, as if they were routine administrative procedures—a phenomenon that the thinker Hannah Arendt termed “the banality of evil.”
In conclusion, the ideology embraced by extremists has regressed human society to the Stone Age, or even earlier, through transborder terrorism, the suppression of pluralism, and cultural destruction. Meanwhile, monitored technology has propelled societies into an era of advanced modernization and civilization, contributing to improved living conditions, easier access to knowledge, and the acquisition of new skills that save time, effort, and expenditure. This, in turn, enhances well-being and comfort across all levels.
Comment: The relationship between technology and ideology is exceedingly complex. Ideology accuses technology of distancing people from the moral and spiritual dimensions that give life meaning, and of attempting to serve as an alternative creed that replaces spiritual values with productive capacity and efficiency. As if devoid of an ethical and faith-based compass, such a stance crushes human dignity.
Conversely, technology levels numerous criticisms at ideological thinking, foremost among them its hindrance of progress, entrenchment of intellectual paralysis, suppression of innovation, binding of time to the shackles of traditional past, prioritization of illusions and myths over rational interpretations of the world and life, and inability to offer effective solutions to contemporary challenges. Is technocratic ideology the solution, or merely a new problem?
— Lebanese writer and university professor
