Andrew Maddox | Chasing the Wind » Technology

Technology

Andrew — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 05:47:21 +0000

Is technology a luxury?
Or is it essential.
First, let’s define how I want to look at this: I’m not talking about convenience points in life–I’m thinking about the use of technology in sharing Jesus Christ with people. Not “Is A/C essential for my life?” (The answer is yes, by the way), but “Is technology necessary for reaching the US?”
That being said, I say that it is essential. We no longer live in a day where we can scrape by doing the things we have always done. The things we have always done worked fine in the past, but they aren’t working anymore. If you think about overall societal progression (in terms of information produced and shifting trends) we live at a time that would have been incomprehensible only 100 years ago.
Every five years, the amount of information in the world doubles, and it seems like the stations in my cable tv guide grow at a simlar pace. Movies have more CGI and special effects that seemlessly integrate with the movie. CDs are over-produced (go to a concert and see the difference–think Ashlee Simpson); and most of the information I could ever want is at my disposal on the internet.
And the church slowly adopts…let’s take the “wait and see” approach.
The church should be at the forefront of using technology. Jesus shared with people in the way that they could best understand: parables. We should do the same. Except modern day parables usually have cinematography, soundtracks and convincing actors. In the end, both tell stories. One told to a first-century culture–the other to a post-modern 21st century culture.
Techonlogy is not optional; it’s mandatory. The sooner we get around to accepting this fact, the sooner we can embrace technology and think of new and exciting ways to use it. Sure, some churches use media well (Fellowship Church, Willowcreek, Saddleback, and Ginghamsburg, to name a few). But sadly, they are the exception, not the rule.

Obstruction

Andrew — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 05:50:25 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me how dumb companies are. First we have the recording industry: digital music is bad–let’s sue everyone for illegally sharing/stealing music! They should have said, “Humm…this is an interesting technology. How can we use it to make more money? Maybe we should sell music online… And maybe the reason sales are going down is because we sign people like Ashlee Simpson.”
Now book publishers are at it [Read the CNN story Here]. Google is working on an index of books so people can search and find the things they need–like a big concordance. Google doesn’t plan to release copyrighted works, just portions of which are covered under “fair use” copyright provisions. The publishers in all their genius are now suing Google to stop the company. Some nonsense about copright infringement.
Why don’t the publishers say, “I think we can make more money if people can actually find the information they need and buy our books.” But likely it’s related to producing a lot of literature that simply is not worth reading; and if people knew that in advance, would they by the books? No.
It’s infuriating how companies I support financially (i.e. I buy books) can continue to live in the era of my grandparents. The concept of “this is how we have always done it and it was good” still reigns supreme in many areas of life: politics, business, technology, religion. Some changes are bad–some are good. But the key is to contemplate which changes are good and which ones are bad–not allowing yourself to be set in stone, endlessly clinging to the vestiges of the past.
And in this case, I feel the stakes are even higher. The amount of information is the world is mushrooming out of control–growing exponentially on a yearly basis. I don’t foresee our ability to deal with the volume of information in the world without technology to help us search through it.

Dreamhost

Andrew — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 04:07:38 +0000

Dreamhost (my web host) was down today. It was less than a thrilling experience. At any rate, the power outage in Los Angeles brought my site along with the church’s site to a screeching halt.
The funny thing is as soon as I realized that my blog was down I wanted to write a post. I felt like a kid who just lost his toy—you know the “I didn’t really want that toy until I saw you playing with it” reaction.
The fact that I had only written a few posts in the past week meant little. I just knew I wanted to because I couldn’t. I was no more than a petty child…but I felt like I could be because the server I paid for is down.
Ironic, isn’t it.

Slingshot

Andrew — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 23:08:39 +0000

I found this on Terry Storch’s blog — and it seems awesome. I’d love to see it in action.

Introducing the Slingbox — a groundbreaking piece of hardwired ingenuity that will literally transform the way you watch television. The Slingbox enables you to watch your TV programming from wherever you are by turning virtually any Internet-connected PC into your personal TV. Whether you’re in another room or in another country, you’ll always have access to your television.

Check it out here.