At the center of the cross in the cover’s illustration is a heart. But this time, and in contrast to the other natural objects in the illustration, this is not the biological heart and does not stand for advances in heart surgery, or artificial implants; instead it is the heart as a symbol of love, emotions, intuitions, and beliefs. Instrumental rationality, science, and technology, the image suggests, are not antonyms to meaning and transcendence but sit very well with them. The dualism is overcome to such a degree that, in effect, the opposing forces become one and the same thing: means become indistinguishable from ends, instrumentality becomes indistinguishable from meaning, and technology becomes indistinguishable from religion and transcendence.
The front cover of the August 2005 issue of Wired, which celebrates the World Wide Web’s tenth anniversary, features another representation of the divine power of network technology.<sup>4</sup> The cover illustration makes a reference to Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous Creation ofAdam, one of the most recognizable iconographies of the biblical creation story. Part of the Sistine Chapel, Creation ofAdam depicts God’s hand reaching out to touch, and in effect animate, the first human. In the rendition on Wired’s cover, divinity reaches out and animates the hand icon commonly used to indicate hyperlink in Web surfing. Did God invent the Web? Is network technology divine and transcendental? Wired answers with a resounding “Yes.”
The significance of the theologizing of technology is further illuminated by its relationship with the narrative regarding nature. Looking back at the history of American technological narratives, David Nye (2003) concludes that “in the American beginning, after 1776, when the former colonies reimagined themselves as a self-created community, technologies were woven into national narratives.” In this American story of origin, “America [was] conceived as a second creation built in harmony with God’s first creation,” that is, nature (Nye 2003, 1).
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