Technology as religion | VPRO Documentary

Until recently, religions had a monopoly on heaven. But religion has a new competitor: dataism. The belief that ultimately everything, including life itself, is nothing more than data.

The promise is a programmable paradise, where artificial intelligence can give us eternal life, happiness and beauty.

What does dataism mean for the future of religion and spirituality? And can it offer us, in addition to numerous practical blessings, meaning? Filmmaker Hans Busstra, who left the church as a reformed minister's son, searches for meaning and spirituality in the tech age.

VPRO, August 2020

Director: Hans Busstra
Research: William de Bruijn
Production: Olivier Schuringa
Editing: Paul Delput
Final editing: Doke Romeijn and Geert Rozinga

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[daniels.]

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."
Revelation 13:15

So it will happen.. Turn to the intelligence who created you and all surround you and told the future 2000 years ago and came to earth to pay the price of death so that you may live. Blessings from Germany

[Imganna]

Jesus is the way the truth and the life.
Dont leave earth without HIM!

[Insightts]

The warmth you felt inside that cold river was your body going haywire to prevent you from death, because he knew it was coming.

[naidadad]

A fascinating documentary! I really enjoyed it! Thanks a lot!!!

[BigMikeGuitar]

Technology is an industrial ability and a tool that is co-opted in service to the regressive reactionary authoritarian theocratic self-interested state (i.e. human tribalism and oligarchy), which tool is captured in service to militarism, and authoritarian escalation in the evolutionary arms race; serves the systems of structural violence that maintain state hierarchy, stratification, and oppression; serves the profitability of capital; and lastly, provides the techno-utopia excuse for the liberal technocratic and ideological fundamentalists to hide behind, to protect their class status, and to maintain the status quo.

Science finds itself in the same situation; tools of enlightenment and sustainability condemned by legacy instinctive biological phenomenon to serve regressive reactionary authoritarian theocratic social Darwinist and psychopathic self-interested tribal, state, and individual myopias. A mindless indifferent natural selection system and instinctive situation of self-interested growth-model authoritarian escalation, fated to compete itself to abusive Lifecycle Empire insolvency, resource exhaustion, and environmental degradation premature extinction. Alas, never to attain the wisdom to override these legacy instinctive authoritarian compulsions with a cognitive-based alternative system, which reverse engineers Homo sapiens in sustainable homeostasis with environmental determinism.

[kmcleod]

Brilliant documentary. Very relevant. Thank you.

[watersabove.below]

If you dont make communion with the True God of the Universe you make communion with everything else that rejects God. Not the company I want to be with.

[annekegermers]

The blind lead the blind. That doesn't end well.

[robertvandenberg]

My first introduction to Bernardo Kastrup. Now almost 2 years later, I know that matter is not fundamental. Though many scientists, like Max Plank, came to this conclusion long ago, Bernardo got my ball rolling.

[larryodonnell]

The most vile, repulsive, greedy and power hungry monsters preaching to their slaves about the meaning of life. Makes me want to vomit

[begutaytemurhan]

so far I watched 5 backlight productions. they are all amazing. thanks to people who contributed to these meaningful works.

[papaiswatching]

Curiosity is God's blessing and perhaps gives us a hope BUT all glory goes to the Lord. If He is comprehensible by us what good is He?

[jimshock]

Interesting, but, hard to understand above all the background music noise.

[ronaldgarrison]

7:15 Perhaps this is just a quibble, but I don't think computers were used in the Manhattan Project. If so, that's news to me. I believe the first electronic computer was used to calculate the trajectories of artillery shells.

[rogerc]

The statue of liberty represents enlightenment. America triples its wealth economy, europe triples its scarcity catastrophe.

[ronaldgarrison]

Yes, the last couple of chatpers of the Revelation do indeed resemble some kind of transhumanist upopia such as Kurzweil and others have imagined. When I first read it, at age 12 (in 1964), TBH I found it quite horrifying. Now, my feeling is more like: Well, who knows what it will really be like? But something like that, in some broad sense, really seems to be approaching.

[lozicrazy]

Wow i went to one of the oldest videos from google. And it said it was suggested by this video...never seen that in a description automated by youtube. But it was destined.

[karankaran-usvm]

The biggest lie ever. Man thinking he is God, worshiping the creation than the creator
Ignoring the sacrifice of signs of the last days

[txcoldiie]

I think this is a sensitive topic, and I like that people are asking questions and hypothesizing. It looks like we are watching a Sci-Fi movie where AI guides our future and opportunities, but thinking that programs and software are everywhere it feels a little scary the merge of technology in city life. Thanks!!

[jacquelinekrench]

Those Israeli that created their doll I'd like to ask a question did your doll speak, did your doll walk, after the breath you gave it did your doll have a heart beat.