Kerby Anderson
Many Americans are concerned about the impact that social media and Big Tech are having on society. Therefore, it is not surprising that a number of documentaries have been focusing on problems from this technology.
One of the most important documentaries to come along is “The Social Dilemma.” It features an interesting blend of talking-head interviews with various Big Tech figures, with a fictional dramatization of what happens when children in one family become addicted to social media.
Much of the discussion follows Tristan Harris. He is referred to as “the conscience of Silicon Valley.” In the past, he worked for Google, but left because he was concerned about the direction of technology and decided to establish the Centre for Humane Technology.
Near the end of the program, he raises the issue of the ethical and philosophical foundation rarely discussed. He concludes, “If we don’t agree on what is true or that there is such a thing as truth, we’re toast. This is the problem beneath other problems. Because if we can’t agree on what’s true, then we can’t navigate out of any of our problems.”
It was a great admission and illustrates the foundational problem confronting Big Tech in particular, and society in general. The assumption running through this video is that there is no absolute truth. Truth is relative, or truth is personal. Relative ethics or postmodern ethics is the ethical assumption made when a critic expresses his or her own opinion. There is no appeal to an absolute standard of right and wrong.
The problem isn’t the technology. Tristan Harris describes the technology as “simultaneous utopia and dystopia.” The problem is the lack of an ethical foundation to evaluate it.

Kerby Anderson
One striking difference between Europe and America has been the temptation of many European countries to fall into totalitarianism. Dennis Prager reminds us that after World War I, many of these countries embraced communism, fascism, or Nazism. There is a very good reason why.
The primary beliefs that gave rise to meaning in life were patriotism and the Judeo-Christian religion. The senseless slaughter during the Great War (as it was called) challenged both of those foundations. National identity was seen as the cause of the war. And religion was deemed unnecessary and perhaps a relic of the past. The void that was left was filled with communism in Russia, fascism in Italy, and Nazism in Germany.
In the US, there were communists and many other activists promoting other totalitarian temptations, but they never took root. Americans did not lose their faith in religion (especially in Christianity). Patriotism not only flourished, but Dennis Prager reminds us that the words “under God” were even inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance recited daily in American schools.
But the baby-boomers born after World War II began to challenge God and country. These students were indoctrinated in secularism and anti-Americanism. The generations that followed them grew up in a country that was less religious and more likely to criticize America’s government and history.
Today we have a void that is similar to the one found in Europe a century ago. Most likely, the totalitarian temptation today will be a Leftist totalitarianism that promotes Leftist political correctness and bans free speech and religion.
There are many reasons to pray for a spiritual revival, but one of the more important reasons is to prevent this country from falling for the totalitarian temptation.