Noach: Technology and politics

Gd, ruler of the world, observes that the people ( and animals?) are destroying  the world, they have veered from the intended path. Survivors, who will be the seeds of the future rebirth, are chosen; and a technological marvel, the ark, is built by the righteous leader of the chosen remnant, Noach.  The selected gather together to from their group and are rescued by a great feat of engineering. 

The tower of Babel, at the end of the chapter, has points in common with this story.  The tower of Babel, another paradigm of organization , science and skill,  was a confrontation of Gd an history. Perhaps the tower of Babel was intended to rise above the next flood, it was to be used to escape.  A tower narrows as it ascends. Those at the top of the tower would be only ones who could use it . This does not look like the selection of the righteous that opened the chapter.

The Tower was built to keep the people together, to discourage the dispersion , to keep the current power structure in place.  It was built so that all would continue to speak the same language, united.  The internet started as a universal language without apparent hierarchy. Now, it is an instrument for the subjugation of the people by the powerful few. Truth through equality has become confusion through access.

The story of the Tower of Babel begins with the first mention of bricks. The text tells us that the bricks  were fired and used as  stones.  Bricks are the first interchangeable part, the first industrial product. The production of bricks implies a division of labor.  Some people produce bricks, others place them and build, perhaps others assure the proper placement.  Bricks reappear when the Hebrews are enslaved by the Egyptians. In the Mendelkern concordance, every  subsequent  use of the word,leveina(im), is connected to the slavery in Egypt.  The industrial process is closely associated with the stratification of society and the subjugation of the oppressed.

The beacon of unification reappears in Jewish national history where it is called Zion.  Here is a force that uses the preserved common language and customs of our dispersed people to unify us for survival. It returns on itself to resurrect the common language. It created a modern state that depends upon technology for survival. I hope that the subjugation is minimized.

Technology is not neutral.  It is good and bad.