© 2023 Santiago Rodríguez
© 2023 Urantia Association of Spain
To introduce this topic, I will start with a succinct definition of science and technology.
What is science and what does it seek in its most general and broad sense?
In general terms, we can argue that when we talk about science we are referring to systematic and structured knowledge obtained through observation, experimentation, and logical reasoning. It is the set of methods, techniques, and principles used to formulate and test hypotheses.
Science seeks to explain phenomena and regularities in nature and reveals the laws and principles that govern the universe. It encompasses many and varied disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geology, psychology, politics, social sciences, mathematics, and more.
Scientists seek to establish theories and models based on empirical and replicable evidence, and are also willing to modify their ideas based on new data or discoveries.
Science is based on the scientific method, which must demonstrate rigor in order to be reliable.
No one doubts that science has been a fundamental driving force of human progress, enabling technological, medical, environmental, and social advances and playing a crucial role in the development of society and our understanding of the world around us.
Is there anything that might make us uncomfortable as Urantians with the scientific method?
a) It works so well in all these areas that we are sometimes tempted to think it should work for all other areas of reality, and if it doesn’t produce the expected results, we question the method. If it doesn’t explain everything, perhaps it isn’t that good…
And also as Urantians, we are not very patient.
b) We want it to advance, even if it means bypassing the scientific method itself, and to immediately incorporate as a working hypothesis everything that comes from revelation.
What is technology and what does it seek?
Technology is the body of knowledge, skills, techniques, processes, and devices used to design, create, manufacture, operate, and improve goods and services to meet human needs and solve practical problems.
It can be both tangible, encompassing physical objects, and intangible, such as software, algorithms, and computer applications. It is constantly evolving and is currently deeply involved in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, renewable energy, virtual reality, and more.
In fact, the development and integration of technology into different areas of everyday life have given rise to a “digital age,” in which technological innovation has emerged as a key driving force in human progress.
Throughout history, technology has been a fundamental factor in the advancement of society and has transformed the way we live, work, communicate, and interact. It has revolutionized industries, improved production efficiency, boosted scientific research, and facilitated the dissemination of knowledge.
What makes us uncomfortable about technology then?
a) We Urantians who know that there is something more than the material world tend to ask ourselves questions such as whether it would be logical or convenient to slow down technological progress, given the speed at which it is occurring and the fact that we are far behind in the social and personal implications of all these changes.
b) We often wonder if all the money, time and effort that the rapid advances of science and technology entail are justified.
Furthermore, our current society faces countless dilemmas. As examples, we might consider:
Just as we find it easy to recognize the need for and value in technology and science, we struggle to realize that they are, in reality, mere tools at the service of humankind. We struggle to accept that they are intrinsically unstoppable and that, by their very nature, they are neither good nor evil. We cannot classify them as such, for their goodness or evil lies in the purposes and interests of the people who wield them. I want to emphasize the fact that few people practice science and technology, but we all use them. Therefore, as Urantians, we have a significant amount of personal responsibility in these matters.
We must recognize that both are extraordinary traveling companions in our evolutionary process.
In my view, the aforementioned social dilemmas, despite being fostered by science and technology, are not caused by them. I think that curbing them does not help resolve the conflicts that have arisen with their development. In fact, I am convinced that they will be part of the solution.
Let’s take a look at how science and technology address the revelation in The Urantia Book.
The book’s revelation helps us understand its place and what we should expect from science and technology, and also invites us to take a different approach to both.
As Urantians, we can accept the challenge and the commitment to live them according to our personal interpretation of the revelation.
Science and technology are necessary and also inseparable companions of our evolutionary process.
The book itself foresees the conflict between labor and technological development and tells us how to address it. It also shows us how science has truly emancipated women, how it has introduced new possibilities into the human reproductive process, and how it is gradually displacing magic and chance from the understanding of natural processes. It shows us how science is necessary to censor and redirect evolutionary religion. It draws our attention to how it is one of the ingredients that allow us to achieve the ideal human state, along with philosophy and religion.
The Urantia Book provides us with a broad description of our reality and shows us that it is inextricably linked to our life experience, with reality being composed of these three facets:
If you look at the three facets, we can discover the evolutionary mark, albeit with a subtle difference. Thus, we find it “natural” (because we’re used to it) to see how, although the facts “are,” the way we explain and understand them changes as our scientific knowledge evolves and changes.
Humans interact with the environment, ask questions, investigate, and seek to deepen scientific knowledge.
In everyday life, these three elements (facts, meanings, and values) constantly interact. Facts provide the objective basis for understanding reality; meanings give meaning and context to those facts; and values influence the decisions and actions that follow from them. The interpretation of facts is often colored by personal meanings and values, resulting in diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives on reality and the world around us.
Science and technology will always accompany us on our evolutionary journey because we are driven to seek Truth (which is more than knowledge), and this search inevitably begins with the search for knowledge. And it is decreed that it will always be a partial truth; the approach to Deity is always incomplete. In fact, it will continue until the stages of light and life, and it will not stop there either.
We’ve seen that we need science and technology, but that’s not all I need: I have to see them in perspective, I have to bring wisdom into play when I conduct science and apply technology. This is the proposal of The Urantia Book.
The key lies in adequate personal development of morals and ethics.
In fact, my first proposal is that commitment arises and travels from each of us to society. We cannot expect it to be the other way around, that is, for society to adopt a position that resolves the dilemma for each of us and for us to simply decide to adopt it. That famous phrase “society pushes me, forces me.”
The change we need to introduce, the key, is to decide to be proactive.
I think that as Urantians, we should feel challenged and encouraged to carefully consider the moral aspects that lead us to ethical values that promote social equity, always keeping in mind that we are jointly responsible for human well-being in this world that will inevitably become increasingly technologically and scientifically advanced.
We have the option of adapting both morality and ethics to new knowledge while maintaining the broad vision provided by a revealed and, as yet, unproven fact: we are citizens not of a town, nor of a country, nor even of a planet, but of an entire universe.
We know that both ethics and morality are not exclusive to the Urantian concept of the meaning of life; “atheists” and other believers also possess an ethical and moral sense. Therefore, we must find and work on this differential aspect that revelation provides.
I have a series of proposals for this:
Each person can find their own way to integrate science and technology into their lives in accordance with their religious and ethical values. The key is to adopt a thoughtful and considerate attitude toward these fields, always seeking to promote well-being and respect for creation and humanity, while also being aware that we are part of a social ecosystem that goes beyond what we are able to see on our planet and that it even extends beyond our own planet.
We must broaden our thinking so that it doesn’t focus exclusively on what’s closest and most visible. Let’s be mindful of our natural tendency to separate science, the facts, from the other two facets of reality (meanings and values).
Our great opportunity as Urantians is to take advantage of this progressive evolution in knowledge to inquire, question, and interrogate ourselves, just as we do with science (understanding the facts), about our own meanings and values, and to make them evolve as well. We will achieve this by intervening and bringing about change in both our morals and our ethics.
The search for Truth begins with knowledge of science and goes further, involving ethics and morals again.
I must seek the truth because it is the basis of science and philosophy.
Consider that the search for Truth is also approached from atheistic or non-Urantian perspectives.
There is little that differentiates us from an atheistic philosophy: it is only the nature and level of the recognized values and the object of loyalties.
We should not be limited to the approach adopted by materialist science. We can consider facts as part of reality, but that in and of themselves they only have explanatory value, descriptive of physical reality, and that even they alone are not the Truth, since they fail to consider both meanings and values. That is, we must describe physical and material reality by considering both beings and the relationships between all of us who are part of creation.
This search for Truth must be supported and motivated by ethics and morals. This is our destiny in light and life. But let me emphasize once again that ethics and morals must be dynamic, changing, and must adapt to the social environment and the development achieved. This means that we must actively work to promote ethics and morals that are something more than those proposed by the mechanistic school of thought.
Religion as an integrative process of the facets of reality
We also cannot lose sight of the fact that religion is a human choice to react to the environment in a certain way, and that not all human beings choose this option.
Our choice as Urantians must be to integrate religion with science and technology, and this requires having a holistic vision, not one separated from the other aspects of the reality of which we are a part. In this way, religion will help us integrate facts, meanings, and values, and give it a Urantian perspective, differentiated from other beliefs… so that science will never be in opposition to religion.
We must not forget that the physical-material aspect is created by divinity, and we must be fully aware that there is a purpose in this aspect of reality and that it is not a mere automatic clockwork mechanism, as materialistic science suggests.
And this, in practice, consists of making science evolve and grow (technology goes hand in hand with science and vice versa), morality and ethics, applying the Urantian point of view.
We must develop belief in the right way by maintaining and increasing faith, reserving the use of this faith for matters that concern it and not to replace what science has not yet been able to achieve.
Intolerance is the eternal enemy of human progress, and the way to combat it is by coordinating science, commerce, entertainment, and religion.
Our limitations in harmonious coordination between science and religion are due to our complete ignorance of the intermediate realm of the morontia world. We must therefore take advantage of the advances of science, together with revelation, to seek harmony between science and religion. Limitations are not impediments; they merely mark a more restricted scenario.