The Church: Technological evolution itself is not an evil. Everything depends on personal choice

“Automation ceased to be a subject matter of science fiction or futurology. The point is not even in the growing number of robot devices, understood as automation of production processes and hard manual labor, but in the software development. It’s important to realize that today not only blue collars but also white collars are in danger,” claims Vladimir Legoyda.

“The society will be changing even faster and stronger, and in 5 years it will look different from today’s, because some jobs are likely to perish, which would mean modification of social commitments of the state to be most probably revised and reconstructed,” he adds.

In his opinion, the necessity to dismiss a big number of workers brings a responsible employer to the point of moral choice: to preserve workplaces for the people and lose business within a short-term prospect or to have layoffs, having preserved at least a small number of workplaces.

As the Chairman of the Synod’s Department noted, even in new conditions the mission of the Church will not change, since she has always prioritized human care.

“In theological circles this issue is also under consideration, yet there are more questions than answers at present. Can a technology itself be an evil? A patristic approach has it that not a single instrument can be bad or good, everything depends on a human, who can abuse it or use in a conscientious way,” underscores the religious expert.

“However, does the use of technologies stretch up to the point when they can hardly be called merely instruments? It’s impossible to deny the fact there are going on fundamental changes, which implications are difficult to predict so far,” concludes Vladimir Legoyda.

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