How many times have we heard that science is based on evidence while faith is based on belief? Even if the speaker is not speaking pejoratively of faith, implicit in this idea is that science is based in the empirical material world and that faith is something different.
Science and faith have had a contentious history, however, many point to the Age of Enlightenment in Europe as contributing significantly to the strict differentiation we place on the two concepts. The systemization of the Scientific Method stressed observation of the natural world, empirical evidence, and the establishment of testable hypotheses through experimentation. Faith, in comparison, was understood to be a personal experience in which objective testing was impossible. Science was championed because it dealt with the material world, which could be physically investigated. Faith, which appeared to only operate in the non-physical realm, was belittled and even trivialized.
This forced dichotomy persisted for centuries until the advent of digital technology began to turn our material world upside down. The creation of the Internet irrevocably changed the course of human history by connecting people and information in ways no one could have dreamed of before. Digital technology had an unprecedented and profound impact on globalization, but it also had a unique influence on humans’ relationship to the physical and material world.
Material to Digital Timeline*
*Approximation of significant events in digital technology
- 1993 – Creation of the Internet
- 1993 – MP3s become publically available
- 1994 – Developments in Digital photography
- 1995 – First Photo Sharing Site
- 1999 – Napster
- 2000 – First Camera Phone
- 2000 – USB Flashdrives; Secure Digital (SD) Memory Cards
- 2001 – iTunes Released
- 2001 – MP4s Expand Public Use
- 2002 – Smartphones Developed
- 2003 – iTunes Store Introduced
- 2003 – Digital cameras outsell film cameras
- 2004 – Kodak stops selling traditional film cameras in Europe and North America
- 2005/2006 – iTunes begins to sell Music videos, TV shows, and Movies
- 2006 – Cloud Storage Introduced
- 2007 – First iPhone released
- 2007 – Netflix begins video streaming
- 2007 – Dropbox created
The Internet came online in 1993 around the same time digital photography and audio (MP3s) became available to the public. Advances in digital technology allowed greater information storage capacity with less and less physical constraints, while smartphones with Internet capability allowed greater accessibility to information anywhere. When iTunes launched in 2001 it touted the ability to rip music from physical CDs, yet within two years was offering customers the ability to download music, as MP3s, directly from their online store. By 2005 cloud technology allowed individuals and business to store and access essential business documents remotely. And video streaming services like Netflix completely transformed how we consume entertainment.
In less than 25 years our music, photos, and documents have dematerialized to be accessed anywhere and anytime. We may not buy “real” cds, books, or movies anymore yet we have access to hundreds of libraries, often right at our fingertips through our multiple digital devices. What becomes of our relationship with the physical world when all of our most precious “things” aren’t physical things anymore but rather 01s floating in a cloud somewhere?
“Not everything that can be measured matters, and not everything that matters can be measured” – Elliot Eisner
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