Second Commandment Technology: Part 1

My Peculiar Map

I couldn’t understand what was odd about my map. Working remotely during COVID, I often started my work day early in Grand Rapids to overlap with my globally-distributed colleagues, who were five hours ahead in York, UK. To encourage camaraderie during the enforced isolation, one day our managers encouraged us all to share pictures of our home workstations on the company messaging board. What a variety!  I posted my own setup, proudly showing my laptop with a second large monitor on a sit/stand desk. I had my Galileo thermometer standing in the corner of the desk, and a stylish map of the world on the wall behind the desk. Most of the comments on my setup were encouraging or humorous. But one observation stood out.

A response from a wise colleague in the UK caught me by surprise. He said he couldn’t figure out at first what was odd about the world map on the wall in the background, ending his reply with the enigmatic “...and then I realized.”

What did he realize?  He never did end up telling me. What was so odd about my map? What was he seeing that I was not?  

Here is a photo of that wall map. Later that day I realized the oddity was due to our differing perspectives of the world, literally. Having purchased my wall art in the US, it centered my own country in the middle, even though this placement awkwardly splits the continent of Asia across the edges. A more globally friendly split would have been down the Pacific ocean, so that all continents appeared unbroken on the 2-D rendering.  

What prevented me from realizing why my map seemed odd? In part, it was a local coordinate system error.  My choice of map art literally centered the world around me. Figuratively, I was placing myself at the center of the universe. While most maps—paper or digital—center on the location of interest, a lack of empathy (or perhaps a touch of pride) prevented me from even noticing how literally self-centered my map was.

My Odd Neighbor

As a Christ follower, I am called to love my neighbor. But Christ didn’t really mean for me truly to love someone beyond my immediate family and those that love me, right?  Does it really include my odd neighbor? The one that acts strange? The one that smells funny?  The one that puts up political signs for the party I vehemently oppose? 

But at least I only need to tolerate those that live immediately adjacent to me. Surely someone at work is not my neighbor. Or someone I meet while traveling. Loving a friend makes sense. But does it make any sense to love a stranger or an enemy? They will not likely repay such kindness.

Yet, astonishingly, Christ says to love our neighbors and even our enemies.

The Second Greatest Commandment

Matthew 28 records “The Great Commission” where Jesus tells the apostles to go make disciples of all nations. This commission is often a central tenet in modern church vision statements. Yet this was not the mandate Christ identified as one of the greatest commandments. To first love God and secondly to love our neighbor – these were the greatest. Jesus stated these two as a summary of the law and prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40)

That second command – to love your neighbor as yourself – appears throughout scripture.  In the Old Testament, the command appears to apply to literal neighbors who are of the same nationality:  ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18)  

Rather than reading this commandment expansively, the Israelites likely read it very narrowly. By contrast, Jesus ensured we understood this command to love others very broadly, in the story of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:29-37. He also makes this point in other places, such as:  “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven...If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Matthew 5:43-48)

Caring for the Alien>

In many science fiction tales, the alien is an intelligent being from another world.  These creatures are so different from us that they seem grotesque and horrific. They look, communicate, and act in ways we do not expect – that do not fit inside our comfort zones of “normal”.  But such differences need not necessarily lead to aversion. We could also experience surprise, or even wonder and curiosity. Many other science fiction tales tell the stories of first contact, of amazement and enjoyment of differences, leading to understanding and respect. The aliens are simply using another perspective, making them seem quite foreign until we understand the translation. It is like the topsy-turvy world of the spherical coordinate system compared to our more familiar Cartesian coordinates. It is like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, where each touches a different part and reaches radically different conclusions about the same animal.

Of course aliens are not just science fiction creatures from another world. The alien at our gates could be a fellow human being from another city, another state, or from the far side of the globe. Even with other people we are prone to notice differences first – in appearance, dress, language, and mannerisms. 

Look even nearer to home and we still have differences. Those closest to us – family and friends – are not precisely the same as us.  The call to love our neighbor is not different in kind, but only in degree when we consider the spectrum of humanity that Jesus calls us to love.  (I’m not sure if there really are aliens on other worlds, but if there are, I’m pretty sure we are supposed to love them too.)

The Hebrew word for “neighbor” in Leviticus 19:18  can be translated literally as the word friend or companion. It comes from the same root as a verb that means “to associate with.” Neighbors defined as associates leads to a rather small circle of those we ought to love.

Jesus expands that circle. The Good Samaritan finds not a close associate lying beaten by thieves on the road, but a sworn enemy. The neighbor is now anyone we come across.  The neighbor is the one who shows mercy. Living in proximity no longer defines our neighborhood. The Good Samaritan did not live near to the victim – he was merely traveling along that road.

More Tech = More Neighbors

Technology is woven throughout our modern society, and it tends to give us more neighbors – especially when we define our neighbor as broadly as Jesus did. Technology expands our neighborhood in several ways: who we work with, who we work for, and who we interact with.

Neighbors are the people we work with

Technology has expanded our work networks over the past few centuries. Prior to the industrial revolution, which started in Great Britain around 1760, most people worked in small-scale agriculture such as farmers or laborers – or small crafts, such as a butcher, baker, or blacksmith. This meant a relatively small number of people were one’s co-workers, a handful of folks at most. The industrial revolution concentrated workers, where early factories led to teams of dozens. 

In the modern mass-production society, a factory or a digitally connected corporation puts one in contact with hundreds or even thousands of work colleagues. For example, I am regularly on web conferences (using tools like WebEx, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet) with professional colleagues. They are frequently in different time zones, and often in different countries. Yet they are my neighbors. 

As a Christian who is an engineering professional, my work connects me with yet more neighbors. I have made acquaintances and friends through my work, including at engineering conferences. I recently served as the general chair for the 2025 Digital Avionics Systems Conference, leading a steering committee of volunteers to plan and organize the conference. By offering a forum and venue for exchange of professional ideas, we were providing hospitality to our professional “neighborhood” – a kind of professional block party.  

Neighbors are the people we work for

As an engineer, I design technology for my employer, but ultimately I am designing technology for people. The customers that use the technology I design are my neighbors. Even people that did not purchase the technology may be impacted by it, and they are also my neighbors. 

I can love my neighbor through my technological products by thoughtful design. I can show loving care by ensuring the design is safe for everyone, incorporating robust fault tolerance and strong security.  I can show loving hospitality with intuitive and aesthetic designs where form implies function. I can demonstrate loving responsibility by providing prophetic witness. How can an engineer be a prophet? By raising ethical flags, warning of dangerous technologies, and testifying to the potential dangers of abuse for even seemingly benign technologies.

Neighbors are the people we interact with

When the Internet was first introduced in the 1980’s, it was mainly a technological neighborhood for scientists and engineers. With the advent of the http protocol and the world wide web in the 1990s, the neighborhood opened up to a much wider audience. Smart phones starting in the 2000s made that neighborhood instantly present.Today, we are more globally and immediately connected than anytime in history. We are aware of the needs of neighbors who are geographically distant, but technologically adjacent. 

The Second Commandment compels us to reject self-centered maps and embrace a more hospitable perspective. As engineers and scientists, our expanding technological neighborhood is not just a feature of our work; it is a mission field. In Part 2, we will explore the tools, interfaces, and algorithms that can either build bridges of mercy or walls of division in our ever expanding circle of neighbors.