When looking at how quickly technology was progressing near the end of his life, the Polish pontiff warned us all that we have an important choice to make.
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For the past 30 years, technology has been developing at an unprecedented rate. Never before has humanity seen such strides in technology in such a short amount of time.
As an example, the locomotive was invented during the early 19th century and it took a century before the automobile came off the assembly line. Prior to that technology typically did not advance for hundreds of years, providing time for humans to adapt and evaluate the new weapons and tools that were developed.
In recent years, technology has grown exponentially faster, especially with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its almost instantaneous use among all major tech companies within a matter of weeks.
It can be a little overwhelming at times and while St. John Paul II died over 20 years ago, he was able to wisely see the consequences of such rapid growth.
Technological crossroads
Interestingly, he brought up technology during the Jubilee of Bishops in 2000, during a ceremony where he made a public Act of Entrustment of the next millennium to Mary, the Mother of God, the Queen of Peace. The entrustment was made on October 8, the day after the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
He mentions during the Entrustment the power technology has given humanity and how that power needs to be used in the right way:
Humanity now has instruments of unprecedented power:
we can turn this world into a garden,
or reduce it to a pile of rubble.
We have devised the astounding capacity
to intervene in the very well-springs of life:
man can use this power for good, within the bounds of the moral law,
or he can succumb to the short-sighted pride
of a science which accepts no limits,
but tramples on the respect due to every human being.
St. John Paul II witnessed the destruction a nuclear bomb could inflict upon the world and was for him a primary example of using science and technology without any discernment.
In today’s world the question humanity faces as it discerns its use of AI. Companies and world powers can use AI for the good of all, but at the same time, they could put “no limits” on it, causing the destruction of everything we know.
St. John Paul II further commented that we are at a pivotal “crossroads,” turning to Mary at this point in history:
Today as never before in the past,
humanity stands at a crossroads.
And once again, O Virgin Most Holy,
salvation lies fully and uniquely in Jesus, your Son.
It’s important for us all to take a step back and evaluate where we are and to make good choices about our use of technology.
Technology gives us so much power in the palm of our hands. St. John Paul encourages us to discern our intentions and not to simply let technology continue to progress without any limits.
Whatever we do, we need to choose the “garden” future and not the “rubble.”
