Mindful Technology

At the risk of alienating readers with the mention of religion and politics, I want to recommend this new book: Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place.  Yeah I know -- not another new-agey liberal screed!  I think the book's approach goes deeper than left vs. right, though.  Anyway, the blurbs pretty much speak for themselves.  See also the publisher's page.

Does religion give us any insight in discussions of science and technology, or does it just alienate?  That's a big question that I don't have time to get into right now...

I've looked in the past for what Buddhism and Buddhist thinkers have to say about technology.  There are some notable contributions -- David Loy comes to mind, and many writings on Buddhist ethics.  I think E.F. Schumacher occasionally used the terms "Buddhist economics" and Buddhist or "intermediate" technology.

Buddhism doesn't give anything approaching specific answers to today's ethical dilemmas, and there is such diversity within Buddhist philosophy that you could probably find any answer you like if you look hard enough.  But some core ideas -- compassion, mindfulness, meditation practice -- could probably serve as a sturdy foundation.  Maybe a positive theme ("mindful technology") is better than a negative one ("question technology")?