The Dangers of Big Tech & Smart Technology

Approximately seventy-five years ago, the holy and clairvoyant Elder Ignatius of Harbin prophesied, “What began in Russia will end in America.”¹ Of course, he was referring to the totalitarian regime that took over Russia using the framework of Marxist philosophy and the gunpowder of Bolshevik Revolutionaries. Perhaps it seems that communism has not invaded America to the degree foretold by this elder. Nevertheless, his prophecy is already coming true. The framework and “gunpowder” being used in the United States are externally quite different from what they were in Russia 100 years ago. Here, the framework is Big Tech — giant companies whose physical, intellectual, and psychological products so thoroughly permeate every level of American life that it seems we can hardly do anything without them — and the “gunpowder” is technology — not mechanical technology like the machines spawned by the Industrial Revolution, but totally synced, cloud-based devices based on big data and powered by artificial intelligence. This technology is what lets you turn on your car and pre-heat your steering wheel mid-winter before you even leave your kitchen, not to mention syncing your contacts, emails, etc. across your phone, tablet, and computer. This is the totalitarian revolution that is already happening in the United States: a “smart technology” revolution designed and implemented by Big Tech companies.

Let us imagine what the Big Tech takeover will look like in the coming years. Unlike the communist takeover in Russia, Big Tech will not begin their reign with an obvious revolution, clearly defined at a certain point in time. Instead, Big Tech will continue taking over Americans’ lives gradually and imperceptibly, always under the guise of improving living conditions, increasing efficiency, implementing order, and fighting bigotry. Eventually, people will be required to “plug in” to the Big Tech systems to live on the most basic level. It will not be required by law, but de facto. The only mechanisms for performing every external part of life will have been monopolized by Big Tech systems. The only phones will be smart phones, the only cars will have smart-tech operating systems, the only indoor lighting systems will be those that sync to your other devices, and so on. Equally pernicious, the only format acceptable for driver’s licenses, passports, and payment methods will be those intangible formats found on your smart phone. You will not be able to earn a living, buy, sell, acquire heat, water, or electricity for your house, or travel, except using Big Tech smart technology.

Unfortunately, Big Tech devices do not just sync and make things paperless. They have built-in surveillance faculties that manufacturers can make impossible for users to disable. These devices will record everything you type, your phone calls, transactions, and where you travel throughout the day. They will listen to you 24/7, even when you have supposedly powered off the device. They will transmit all this data to enormous data storage and analysis facilities (much like the data centers² already being installed around the country), and artificial intelligence programs will analyze your entire life to create a portfolio capable of predicting your every need and desire—something beyond even the Soviets’ wildest dreams.

…artificial intelligence programs will analyze your entire life to create a portfolio capable of predicting your every need and desire—something beyond even the Soviets’ wildest dreams.

What will Big Tech do with these data portfolios? First, they will manipulate you. At this point, they will control every external aspect of society, down to when street lights turn red and what song is playing in your local CVS — everything will be run by cloud-based Big Tech systems. They will use these things to manipulate you with the intensity of full-scale brain washing, while it will seem to you that nothing out-of-the-ordinary is happening. By fine-tuning every Big Tech device, they will engineer “coincidences” in your life that will appear like veritable miracles. “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the very elect.” (Mk. 13:22)

Perhaps that is all they will need to do to achieve their goal — that is, to be everyone’s “god.” As long as people depend on them and acknowledge their omniscience and omnipotence the way people once used to do with God, Big Tech will let people’s lives run smoothly. In fact, Big Tech will arrange it so people’s lives run miraculously smoothly, without any problems whatsoever. However, acknowledging the divinity of Big Tech will also require agreeing with their opinions and not saying things to offend their sense of divinity and freedom. Perhaps we already see the beginnings of this in Canada³, where quoting Scripture in public might lead to your arrest.

However, suppose someone refuses to obey and worship Big Tech? Big Tech will freeze their life. Every artificial intelligence, cloud-based system will be under Big Tech’s control. Suppose the person has a job? Artificial-intelligence-generated employee reports will suggest they get fired. Suppose they apply for a new job? Artificial intelligence job screening will reject them. No employer will hire them; no stores will accept their money; the heat, electricity, and water in their house will stop. Through subtle messages on social media and intense manipulation, Big Tech may even be able to arrange it so no one will talk to them. Society will reject them as an outcast. This poor person will be a prisoner in which the whole world — at least, as far as they can walk, since their driver’s license will have been disabled — is their prison camp. They will seem to be in their own personal nightmare. The lives of everyone around them on the street will seem to be going fine. How does it end for this poor person? Perhaps the same way it ended for the new martyrs in Solovki and other Soviet labor camps: psychological breakdown, deprivation of basic living necessities… all within their own home. Of course, for now all this seems like a horrible fairy tale.

What will be the landmarks that it’s getting close? In the Soviet Union, one turning point for the Church was Metropolitan Sergius’s Declaration of 1927, in which he subjugated the Church to the atheist state. After that, the Orthodox Church split, and the Catacomb Church began. The equivalent in the United States might be when Orthodox hierarchs allow Big Tech to dictate Church policy — not Church dogma, since even the Soviets knew that changing Orthodox dogma would evince immediate and universal outrage from the faithful. In practice, this might mean, for example, that hierarchs allow Big Tech to dictate where and when clergy are ordained and assigned; matters of Church discipline, including transferring and defrocking clergy; what Orthodox seminaries teach and what clergy say in their sermons and writings; when, where, and in what numbers Orthodox can gather for divine services and other purposes; and mandating the use of Big Tech devices (e.g. microphones, speakers, etc) in services. Of course, some of this already happened during COVID-19.

In conclusion, what can Orthodox Christians do to avoid being sucked into the Big Tech nightmare? Orthodox author Paul Kingsnorth makes some suggestions in his book, Against the Machine. Most simply, try not to use cloud-based “smart” devices. Perhaps it’s worth re-learning how to use a paper map and atlas for long drives. If you have to have a smart phone, leave it at home or in the office; learn to live without it as much as possible. Go for walks in nature, and never bring your phone! Pay with cash.

More importantly, go to Church. Receiving the Holy Mysteries and even just listening to Church services, seeing the icons and flickering flames of the oil lamps and candles… all this fights the infection of dehumanizing technology. Most importantly, spend more time in prayer. Saint Theophan the Recluse and many Holy Fathers write that the Jesus Prayer is particularly effective in bringing peace and purity to the heart, mind, and soul.

Big Tech wants people to be continuously anxious, plagued by an undercurrent of unease and gloominess. Positive thoughts, prayer, Church services and the Holy Mysteries, and loving your neighbor are the absolute opposites of the destructive forces of Big Tech. Saint Paisios exhorted, “cultivate positive thoughts and your life will be a constant festivity.”⁴ This kind of festive lifestyle is the healthy (even salvific) alternative to the supposed comfort and convenience provided by Big Tech devices. Finally, thanks be to God, the weapons that we have as Orthodox Christians are stronger than the weapons they have, because the source of all our weapons is Christ, Who has already overcome the world.