Use this payment system. It is for your convenience, your safety and your security. To do so you need to have a username and password and security questions. You must also have your cell phone with you at all times because we will send you a security code to sign in. This is for your security and safety.
Use this plastic card to get bonus deals at the supermarket. This is for you to save money. We are only thinking about how we can serve you better.
Use this communication system. It doesn’t cost you very much and it makes your communications much easier and more efficient.
The data we are collecting from you will be absolutely secure. We would never share it with anyone. We are only keeping your financial records, your police checks, your credit records and your educational, tax and employment details safe for you. This is for your safety and security.
Use this GPS tracking technology on your phone. In case you are ever in danger they will be able to find you and if you lose your phone you will be able to find it again. This is for your ease and security.
Use this computer software. You can store all your data safely on the cloud. It will be there forever for you and it will be secure. We would never use your data to sell you anything you don’t want. This increases your choice. This is something we’ve designed to make life easier for you to give you more freedom.
Uh huh.
I recently finished rereading Laudato Si and was struck by how often Pope Francis takes aim at the totalitarian tendency within technology. He constantly reminds us that nothing, not even technology, can be removed from morals. For example,
“Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used.”
“Technology tends to absorb everything into its ironclad logic, and those who are surrounded with technology “know full well that it moves forward in the final analysis neither for profit nor for the well-being of the human race”, that “in the most radical sense of the term power is its motive – a lordship over all”. As a result, “man seizes hold of the naked elements of both nature and human nature”. Our capacity to make decisions, a more genuine freedom and the space for each one’s alternative creativity are diminished.”