Greg M. Epstein at the Cambridge Public Library

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Greg M. Epstein—Humanist Chaplain at Harvard & MIT—for a discussion of his new book Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation. He will be joined in conversation by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein—Associate Professor of Physics and Core Faculty Member in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire.

Ticketing

RSVP for free to this event or choose the "Book-Included" ticket to reserve a copy of Tech Agnostic and pick it up at the event. There will be a book signing follwoing the presentation.

About Tech Agnostic

Today's technology has overtaken religion as the chief influence on twenty-first century life and community. In Tech Agnostic, Harvard and MIT's influential humanist chaplain Greg Epstein explores what it means to be a critical thinker with respect to this new faith. Encouraging readers to reassert their common humanity beyond the seductive sheen of “tech,” this book argues for tech agnosticism—not worship—as a way of life. Without suggesting we return to a mythical pre-tech past, Epstein shows why we must maintain a freethinking critical perspective toward innovation until it proves itself worthy of our faith or not.

Epstein asks probing questions that center humanity at the heart of engineering: Who profits from an uncritical faith in technology? How can we remedy technology's problems while retaining its benefits? Showing how unbelief has always served humanity, Epstein revisits the historical apostates, skeptics, mystics, Cassandras, heretics, and whistleblowers who embody the tech reformation we desperately need. He argues that we must learn how to collectively demand that technology serve our pursuit of human lives that are deeply worth living.

In our tumultuous era of religious extremism and rampant capitalism, Tech Agnostic offers a new path forward, where we maintain enough critical distance to remember that all that glitters is not gold—nor is it God.

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