Technology confronts us every day. Discoveries in science allow the development of new technologies. The new technologies allow more scientific discoveries. All of us use the technologies and that drives further production. Science, technology, and society all interact with one another. We are in an age of impressive scientific progress.

For example, scientists when using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have discovered that blood carrying more oxygen looks different than blood with less oxygen. Blood with oxygen sets up one kind of magnetic field while oxygen-poor blood does the opposite. An MRI, which uses a huge magnet, can image these effects.

We assume that blood flow increases to bring in oxygen and nutrients to the areas of the brain that are being used. Therefore functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows investigators to study which areas of the brain become active when particular tasks are performed. Several of my college students have participated in such studies at a nearby medical college. They were presented with tasks while lying inside the MRI chamber. In this case better technology leads to more discoveries about how our brains work. We are all interested in how we function. We want to understand so we can apply that knowledge when there are problems.

When we have problems, we tend to look to science and technology. Fifty years ago who could have dreamed that we would have powerful computers in our homes or wireless handheld devices that act as mobile telephones with e-mail access, text messaging, faxing, paging, and Web browsing. Captain Kirk of Star Trek had us dreaming of these devices. The visible successes—especially in technology—have allowed science to claim a high level of authority in modern society.

Certainly, we enjoy the many discoveries and inventions we take for granted today. Technology is not evil in itself. Technology gives us things such as MRI and angioplasty to help fix the effects that sin has had on creation. Max L. Stackhouse urged Christians to practice what he has called “godly cooking,” which is his term for technology that is used “to reconstruct what is distorted or incomplete in nature in order to more nearly approximate the laws, purposes, and mercies of God.” When we are sick, we look for help. And for us, God hides behind these advances. Luther called them the “masks of God.”

Limitations of science and technology