As a toddler, my favorite book was the story of the little red caboose that always came last. This story was told and retold countless times. Also, from the kitchen window, I could watch the trains rumble down the track just across the field from our house. They often had a real-life caboose back then in the early 90’s.

My fascination with machines and engineering continued as I grew and learned to read. At school, I poured over every book about river steamboats in the library. Also, a highlight of every Miller family gathering was to talk with Cousin Joseph and hear what exciting new things he had been learning about or doing. Whenever we got together at Grandpa’s, Joseph and I often sat back in the corner and poured over their World Book Encyclopedia set. We loved to read about rockets, jet engines, mining equipment, and computers. Exploring the science and physics of how these marvelous creations worked.

On the farm, I also had the opportunity to study many machines in real life. I’d spend hours inspecting the internal workings of complex machines like a grain binder, hay baler, or threshing machine. One day, the baler sheared a pin due to a timing issue on the tying cycle, and the three or four men milling about were utterly stumped about resolving this issue. My eight-year-old self suggested they pull the needles back to home position and restart the cycle. Pronto issue resolved. I felt big!

The adults in my life had a complex relationship with machines. Older machinery like a threshing machine or a binder were readily employed. In contrast, newer innovations like a hay baler or gas engine were used grudgingly. And things like cars, tractors, or computers were shunned with severity. Oh, it was okay to ride in a car if a non-Amish person drove it, but not on Sunday except for an emergency like traveling to an unexpected funeral out of state.

Books like Henry and the Great Society left a lasting impression on my life.

Recently, I have been reading a book on consciousness, intelligence, and our perceptions of the world around us. I was startled by the quote below talking about the high prevalence of mind-altering drugs among those who have invented many of the modern technologies we use every day.

“Yes, a lot of them were stoned, and many of them are willing to admit it, like Steve Jobs of Apple (though some of them, many that l used to get high with, wear suits now and pretend they've always kept their neural systems chaste, while making a living from a business they thought of when stoned on acid) or Kary Mullis, the Nobel laureate, and biochemist, who credited LSD with helping him develop DNA amplification technology, that is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique that is used in laboratories throughout the world to more quickly identify microorganisms."

"That so many of the Western world's innovative leaps after WWII came from neurognostics is the dirty little secret that the narrow-minded just can't accept…”

Let’s think about this a little. What other critical infrastructure would we trust stoned high school kids in hoodies to engineer and develop? Maybe our roads and bridges? Or perhaps skyscrapers in the city could be safely engineered by dudes on crack? Why does this feel like a societal security threat?

Why are we surprised that a group of people on mind-altering substances created a system that itself is addicting and mind-altering?

To a greater or lesser degree, the church and working-class Americans have approached modern innovations with deer in the headlight syndrome. On one extreme, major technologies like TV, radio, and the internet have been completely shunned as of the devil, only grudgingly, reluctantly adapting to the constant force of change created by the outside world. In the case of the Amish, this has been helpful in protecting the community, allowing them to live life relatively untouched by the encroachment of modern influences. It has not, however, significantly altered the trajectory of society at large, and that bubble is quite dependent on the rest of society continuing to function at some level of coherence. On the other hand, we have accepted whatever tech came down the pike—taking little responsibility for how it affects our lives or the lives of our young ones. Sure, we’ve tried to shield ourselves and our children from evil effects, but mostly from a defensive stance.

What if instead of being passive victims constantly engaged in damage control, we would step up and proactively invest in our own futures? How different would our world look if our technological advancements were, first and foremost, dedicated to the betterment of humanity rather than the enrichment of a few? How different would our world look if our inventions came to us by divine revelation rather than while under the influence of drugs?

It has been almost a decade since Joseph and I and our wives have stepped away from a culture that has chosen to live in fear of worldly technology. Yes, a lot of horrible garbage occurs on the internet and with computer technology. But I know for sure that it will not go away on its own. Unless Gideon, David, Jehu, and Elijah step up and create some change, the evil will remain and get worse.

I believe it is imperative that we stand up and begin to consciously think about who we want in control of designing the software and platforms society runs on. It is imperative for We the People to step up and actively take responsibility for how the software systems we use are affecting commerce, family life, teen development, and every other aspect of society. As for me and my house, here I am, Lord, send me.