The Human Body and the Limits of Technology

by Matthew Lee Anderson

“We like to hack hardware and software, why not hack our bodies?”

That’s Tim Chang, an advocate of the “self-quantifier” movement, which is dedicated to tracking individual lives through technological add-ons. The dream of monitoring not just our movements, but our emotions, responses and behavior is quickly becoming a reality, even while it might be a nightmare for those raised on The Thief in the Night. The Nike iPod, baseball’s sabermetrics and the obsession with quantitative investing by financial advisors are just a few examples in a ubiquitous trend of measuring every nook and cranny of life.

[READ: "Invasion of the Body-Hackers" from Financial Times and Slate.com]

The problem for Christians is the fundamental assumption of the body-hacking trend. Beneath the numbers, graphs, and computer-generated metrics lies an assumption that the body is no more than a machine. Sure, the body is machine-like—as any high school biology teacher can attest. As I argue in my book, Earthen Vessels, a Biblical understanding of the body suggests it's far more than that.

The scriptures teach that we are the handiwork of a Divine Artisan. “For you created my inmost being,” the psalmist writes, “you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” In the first chapter of Genesis, God affirms that the physical substance comprising the human body is “very good.” The body in Christian perspective is intricately connected to our inner life. It shapes how we connect with the neighbors we are commanded to love, and it makes possible our public worship of the God who made us.

But the self-quantification movement rests on a story that may be antithetical to this. The notion that the “body is a machine” has a long and distinguished history, one that is inseparable from the emergence of our late modern world. The metaphor is often traced to Descartes, who believed that the body was nothing more than a tool used by the soul to get around in life. The scientific explosion of the 20th century and the emergence of Darwinian evolution as an explanation of human origins breathed new life into the metaphor.

Unfortunately, contemporary Christians have sometimes gone to the opposite extreme. We’ve often spiritualized our salvation at the expense of our bodies, speaking of the Spirit-indwelt soul without considering the temple in which that Spirit dwells. This reduction of the body to a shell that merely holds the more valuable (immaterial) parts is near the root of current Christian malaise. But more importantly, it undermines the good news of Jesus Christ to the bodies of those he came to save.

[ALSO: Five books on the body for Christians]

The heartbeat of Christian theology is person and work of Jesus, who demonstrated his own love and gracious acceptance of our bodies through taking one on, dying for it and rising again in the same body. The good news of our salvation holds out the promise that our bodies, as much as our souls, will be re-made according to the pattern of Christ’s salvation through the empowering presence of the Spirit. Rather than bodily transformation through quantification or hacking, the Gospel makes possible transformation by grace, the gift of God himself to our bodies, for our bodies.

We are not machines with “inputs and outputs,” but persons who live within and out of stories—especially the story of the cross and resurrection. Tim Chang’s implied suggestion that our bodies are no different than our computers fails to capture their uniqueness. As Gilbert Meilander puts it, the body is “the place of our personal presence,” and in St. Paul’s language it is “the temple of the Holy Spirit”—a place where the divine and human collide.

That collision rarely happens, if ever, with the sterility and precision that self-quantification holds out to us. The incarnation, cross, and Pentecost are events that resist quantification, yet are events which—either by rejection or acceptance—determine the very meaning and shape of our humanity. If the Gospel is true, then for all of its benefits, the incorporation of technology into our concept of the self will inevitably fail to fulfill our deepest hopes for transformation and flourishing.

While hacking, tracking and mapping our bodies might provide new data about ourselves, its benefits will be limited if we don’t consider that data in light of its spiritual significance. The rupture between God and humanity has severed the Potter from His beloved vessels and left His temple in ruins. And as with all our labor, unless the Lord rebuilds the house, our own attempts at restoration are vanity. May we remain humble as earthen pots while never forgetting that we are the work of the good Potter’s hands.

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Does Anderson's thinking impact one's views on less controversial technology like prosthetic limbs? In your opinion, does it really make a difference if we treat the body as the place where our persons are present, rather than a machine?

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Editor's Note: The artwork above is from Fritz Kahn's (1888-1968) iconic "man-machine" series. It is quoted from here.

Comments

Sandra

I have actually never considered the spiritual significance of the human body. This really made me think.

Loran

I have recently received a total hip replacement and have had a total knee replacement several years ago. These two items, made of very specialized metals, have made it possible for me to enter the pulpit and again proclaim the grace and mercy of our God! I see this technology as an enhancement of my life and I received them with "thanks be to our LIving God". Mr. Anderson's question will cause me to consider the importance of being a "machine" in a different light and, perhaps, I will be able to enrich some other lives/minds, too. Yes, the body is much more than an apparatus, a machine, and I find that the wonders of its construction far exceed that of any other piece of equipment about which we know on earth. Besides, it was dreamed up and created by an intelligence far beyond anything we humans have dreamed up as yet!

Alex Tang

While I agree with Mr. Anderson that we are more than just embodied souls, however we must not go to the extreme that makes our bodies an idol. Our bodies is not god but part of God's created universe. Hence it falls under our mandate to take care of it which included modifying or improving it. I do not have issues with prosthetic surgeries or other new treatment modalities that makes our years here on earth better.

Thomas

Lately I read the book "Surprised by Hope" by Tom Wright. I beautifully puts together what Mr. Anderson says by pointing to the resurrection power of Jesus and how this affects already the here and now. To separate body and soul is Platonic and not Christian and it is sad that Seculars and Christians are falling into this trap.

Nate V.

Great thoughts...being a biologist myself, questions regarding bioethics are often at the fore. And the question of God's design (intent) for the body is something that has become rather unpopular to talk about these days...

What type of knowledge that we seek when trying to "hack the body" is the important question. That we have a Designer makes all the difference. That God designed us means that we have something we were designed FOR. It means that the way we are has intelligibility and, in a sense, "speaks" on its own accord. The knowledge that we should seek would be to help us understand this beautiful design and help it to flourish in the way God intended. St. Thomas Aquinas' adoption of Aristotle's 4 causes can be very helpful when talking about ethics.

A thing should not be used when it violates the finality (purpose) of the object (in this case, our bodies) it is being used for.

Things like prosthetics are meant to help encourage the normal function of limbs. They help promote the finality of arms, legs, etc. Things like pacemakers and medications (at least some) are meant to help bring the body to a state of normal functioning when something has gone awry. These things are clearly not improper hacking.

There are many things, however, that are. Being a biologist, I also know that the scientific world doesn't give issues like this any attention. One of my biggest concerns here is birth control. Not only are the studies which expose birth control's problems never advertised, it is becoming commonplace that so many Christian men and women will, as a matter of course, visit the doctor before marriage and obtain birth control without considering what they are doing. Many types of birth control actually cause an early abortion (they allow for fertilization but not implantation, etc.). Birth control is also, in looking at the body spiritually, against the finality of total self-giving love and against the finality of the reproductive process in a way that other methods that work with a woman's God-given cycles aren't. Christians had all understood this until modern times. Now, it's never even discussed. One of the best resources I've read on this is John Paul II's "Theology of the Body." When considering this topic, our oversight in this area just can't be denied.

Rachael Starke

It seems that belief or unbelief in the existence of the soul brings a lot to bear on this question. If you have no belief in a soul, acknowledgment of people as being anything other than a machine, or perhaps, a high-functioning animal, seems like it would be difficult.

Nate brings up the idea of "use", which reminds me of the conversation my husband and I were having in the car this morning about how we as Christians so often "use" things, rather than see them as gifts to be received. Applying that to the hacking idea, the body becomes a means to technological and intellectual ends, with knowledge and power as gods. In God's economy, the body is a means to reveal God's glory, with God as God.

Regarding prosthetic limbs, I'm remembering a talk I saw on TED a while ago by a woman who was a model who had had both limbs amputated below the knee. For her talk, she wore a special set of prosthetic limbs that made her look close to seven foot tall, far taller than her original height. So there, her ability to walk had been restored, but her ability to do things like reach the highest shelf at a grocery store had been enhanced. (Not to mention that it just looked downright intimidating, which she also alluded to.)

I'm almost reluctant to think aloud about the whole area of "aesthetic hacking" (AKA - cosmetic surgery), but surely that has to be seen as either a subcategory or one alongside the technological variety. There the intent is.....varied, shall we say? ;)

jorge delgado

mi esposa compro una mochila negra como usada, y despues de tiempo vimos un compartimiento en la mochila con tu social security y tarjeta de credito National Instruments...... posiblemente ya no te interese...solo te avisamos,,,,ok.

jorge delgado

perdon.... el numero de seguro social y tarjeta de credito esta a nombre de Mathew Lee anderson.