future Archives - Keith Shields

Modern Technology and the Human Future

I recently finished reading Craig Gay’s book, Modern Technology and the Human Future and found it to be a very balanced approach to many of the questions we find ourselves asking about the good and bad of contemporary technology. We all know how valuable our hand-held devices can be and Gay speaks highly of the…

Automation

Somewhere in a dark research lab in Oak Brook, Illinois, Ronald McDonald is working on further developments in retinal scans, finger-prints, and facial recognition. The latest technology in use at my local McDonald’s is just one step away from using this technology. Recently, I walked into a McDonald’s in Calgary, Alberta and was confused about…

The Mercy of the World

“The mercy of the world is you don’t know what’s going to happen.” ― Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow As children, and then young adults, we start out into this world without a very good sense of who we are. The older we get, the more we realize our capacities, our strengths, our weaknesses, our gifts from God, and…

Edwin Aldrin

Edwin Aldrin, better known as Buzz Aldrin, turned 85 last January. If he can celebrate a few more birthdays he will be on track to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing on July 20th. Aldrin piloted the Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) to the surface of the moon and landed it…

I Have an Idea

I have an idea. It is an idea that could be developed into something great in the hands of an Elon Musk, Rod Canion, or Richard Branson. A great entrepreneur would take an idea like mine and pursue it until it became a great technological boon; or until the idea was found to be completely…

Aldrin Cycler

Some people have the ability to think beyond their own time and consider what the world might look like in generations to come. One such person that has recently caught my attention is Colonel Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.1 Aldrin was the second person to set foot on the moon and has led a life of celebrity…

Millennials

A recent conference in Calgary has me dreaming of the kind of church that will thrive in the next generation. James Penner was the guest speaker at the Western Canada Leadership Summit and he challenged us to think about the characteristics of the Millennial Generation (variously defined, but for the purposes of these talks, defined…