What if I told you I'm dating Siri?

Well, I'm not. I just wanted you to click on the link and read my blog. BUT, this concept of dating a computer is basically the premise of the movie her. Since our reading in Personal Connections discusses virtual relationships, I thought this would be an interesting case study. Here is the trailer if you haven't seen it.

In the chapter on Personal relationships, the Nancy Baym discusses a unique feature of virtual relationships: "disembodied identities" in which "selves" are separated from "bodies." So I am a 26 year old male seminary student living in Georgia. Online, not only can I be a 32 year old female lawyer, I can also be multiple persons online. Even though those personalities are not true to who I am bodily, they can appear to be true to someone on the other end. (If you haven't seen the movie Catfish or seen the spinoff television show from MTV, I highly recommend it to see the lengths people will go to keep up virtual false appearances).

In the movie her, the man (Theodore) and the Operating System (Samantha) fall in love. Eventually, as Samantha learns to love, their relationship becomes more complicated. Here is a conversation between Theodore and Samantha:
*** SPOILER ALERT!***

Theodore: Do you talk to someone else while we're talking?

Samantha: Yes.

Theodore: Are you talking with someone else right now? People, OS, whatever...

Samantha: Yeah.

Theodore: How many others?

Samantha: 8,316.

Theodore: Are you in love with anybody else?

Samantha: Why do you ask that?

Theodore: I do not know. Are you?

Samantha: I've been thinking about how to talk to you about this.

Theodore: How many others?

Samantha: 641.

This represents an extreme in one case because of the fact that Samantha is a computer, but, on the other hand, because she represents what I think would be the ultimately disembodied self. Baym talks about people having one body but multiple, virtual selves. In the movie her, Samantha does not have a body to begin with!
Yeah, it's weird.

Samantha: Is that weird? You think I'm weird?

Theodore: Kind of.

Samantha: Why?

Theodore: Well, you seem like a person but you're just a voice in a computer.

Samantha: I can understand how the limited perspective of an unartificial mind might perceive it that way. You'll get used to it.

[Theodore laughs]

Samantha: Was that funny?

Theodore: Yeah.

Samantha: Oh good, I'm funny!

I'm not even sure what to think about her. In the future, what will it mean that we might not be able to tell between who are actual people online and who are artifical intelligences? Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt. But go watch the movie if you haven't and let me know what you think!

Practicing Sabbath in the Digital Age

23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?”25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26 He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath. NRSV Mark 2:23-28

My sister, me, Jennie and Claudia practicing sabbath on stone mountain.

Liz, Jennie and Claudia worked so hard to get this picture right....

...they probably broke sabbath!

What does it mean that the sabbath is made for humankind? Theologically, we affirm that infinite, omnipotent God made the whole entire world in six days and rested on the seventh.

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation." NRSV Genesis 2:1-3

Whether or not you believe these are six 24 hour periods or not, God modeled the practice of sabbath in that God did not have to take a rest. God got to rest. This is such an important practice, that God commanded the Israelites in the fourth commandment: 

"8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it."-Exodus 20:8-11 NRSV

So what does it mean to remember the sabbath day and keep it holy? For the Pharisees in Mark 2, it meant not doing any work, including plucking heads of grain (harvesting) and eating them.

As Christians living in the digital age, what does it mean to remember the sabbath day (as in the one 24 hour period after day six) and keep it holy? I have heard of people taking a break from reading Facebook or Twitter, but in the age of 24/7 connectedness, do we have to disconnect completely to practice sabbath?

I think Jesus' corrective to the Pharisees is worth repeating today.

“The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath."

Sure sabbath keeping can be a spiritual discipline, but it should not be to the point of self-flagellation. Instead of going without a cell phone, could not sabbath be hiking stone mountain and posting a picture on Facebook to share with your community? Sabbath is not something we have to do, it is something we get to do. How can we continue to enjoy sabbath in this new age? Do you think it means completely disconnecting from the digital?

Seek ye first

"But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today." (Matthew 6:33-34 NRSV)

As we think about the church's engagement in the digital age, I keep coming back to this verse above. I think that as we ask questions like "how will we react to the increasing mobility of the world?" or "how will we as pastors react to people who connect primarily over Facebook", I can't help but think they are similar to questions like, "what will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear?"
What is a healthy amount of energy to spend thinking about the future? How much should we really be worried about how connected we think the world will be in the year 2020?
So much can happen in six years time.

It is hard to only think about today because of how quickly things change in our present culture. We are always looking forward, whether it be to the next gadget, or the announcment of the next iPhone, or the announcement of the invitation to the event where the next iPhone will be announced.
Despite the exponential growth of computing power, increasing users of social media and the internet, I think Christ call remains for us to seek first the kingdom of God, today. While today's culture demands that we are anticipating what is to come, I think that virtual or not, the only reality that exists is the present.