The people who design and create technology are – almost by definition – rich and powerful. It is their concerns which are baked into the objects which everyone else, if they are to function in a modern world, must use. Cheaper, faster, smarter, more profitable; preserving an order that put the current “winners” on top: this is what technology is for.
Technology is rarely designed with widows, orphans, immigrants, the poor, oppressed, or the disenfranchised in mind. It is even more rarely designed with their good in mind. Such people – almost by definition – do not have a say in the design and creation of technology that orders their existence.
How does the church fulfil its calling in a technologically driven world, to have concern for people with whom technological development is unconcerned? This course will help church leaders and their congregations engage with the theological, technological, practical, and pastoral issues raised by this question.
Participants will be sent material to read, listen to or watch which will be discussed during the Thursday evening online sessions.
There will be an optional in-person evening discussion in a Cambridge pub with Faraday team members in the week following each session.
This course is being run in partnership with the Methodist Church and Christians in Science.
Session 1, Thu 23 Oct 2025: Dr Mike Brownnutt: How Technology Embodies Values
Sessions 2-5: Looking at different groups, relationships, or experiences, speakers TBC.
