As the brilliant philosopher Newman once said to Jerry in an episode of Seinfeld, “[Y]ou remember this. When you control the mail, you control … information!” Of course, no one would suggest that the U.S. Postal Service has that sort of power today, having been duly replaced and far exceeded by digital gatekeepers. A recent case in point was something noted by several people who searched online about the recent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
The Heritage Foundation shared a screenshot on X of their Google search. Having typed “assassination attempt on t,” the search engine auto-filled “Truman,” “Teddy Roosevelt,” and “the Pope.” James Lindsey asked Meta AI, “tell me about the assassination attempt on Trump,” and the reply was, “I can’t assist with that.” The same program did, however, offer a thorough (and positive) run-down of the Kamala Harris campaign when asked. Others reported that searching Google for “Trump Rally” returned results of a Kamala Harris rally, as did searching for “Kamala Harris rally.” Media giants quickly chalked up these incidents, as well as a few others, to the accidental quirks of AI algorithms, but not everyone believed that explanation.
Historians love to name periods of time. Students of history will recognize descriptors such as the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, or the Gilded Age. When future historians write about our age, they will find it is already named. We live in the Information Age, a time in which information shapes life in unprecedented ways, and in which the sheer amount of information is overwhelming.
Information, even at the present scale, is rarely neutral. Information contains, argues, assumes, and otherwise delivers ideas. Thus, the Information Age might also be called the Age of Competing Ideas. Ideas, once limited to certain geographic, cultural, and religious communities, are now widely available to all. In many cases, ideas we may never have been exposed to in another era now aggressively compete for our attention and loyalty.
The Age of Competing Ideas is also an Age of Competing Authorities. The existential question, “Who can I trust?” is never more important than it is when so many voices are telling us what to think and how to live. Trust is, in fact, in crisis today. There’s been a catastrophic loss of trust in the traditional cultural authorities, from government to religious leaders to media to families to even medical professionals. It is a challenging moment when accusations of “disinformation” come most loudly from those who peddle disinformation.
One of the earliest prophets of the Information Age was Neil Postman. In the introduction to his landmark 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he contrasted the dystopian visions of George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World:
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
Postman believed that Huxley’s vision was the correct one, and for most of the Information Age, it was. Recently, however, my colleague Glenn Sunshine suggested that perhaps we should look instead to C.S. Lewis’s vision in That Hideous Strength.
This novelized version of another brilliant work by Lewis, The Abolition of Man, includes media control, narratives of disinformation, the destruction of all standards in the name of liberty and diversity, transhumanism, cyber “friends,” and even a form of the “Metaverse.”
Christians will need to think deeply about how to respond as our culture shifts, from a time of information choice and overload to information control, and especially the crisis of trust that it brings. It certainly will require of us a level of discernment. This, in turn, requires a solid grounding in truth, specifically the truth about reality and the truth about the human person.
Christians know Truth by name. It is Jesus, the embodiment of the truth and the Creator of the heavens and earth. A therapeutic faith, one which sees Jesus only as, to cite Lewis again, “a great moral teacher,” won’t cut it. Only a faith in which our full confidence is placed in Him as He has revealed Himself to be will.
That is why the person and work of Jesus is still Good News, even in an era like ours.
This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Padgett. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Andriy Onufriyenko
Published Date: August 6, 2024
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.