Violent Tech

In a world where we increasingly believe our own publicity about our benevolence, we need prophetic voices which challenge this lie. In a world where we are increasingly dazzled by our own technological capacity, we need compassionate voices which call our attention to the unseen and unheard of our world. In a world where we are increasingly seduced into giving reductive answers to complex questions, we need intelligent voices which can operate with nuance. Joshua Smith is one of these voices, and his intelligent, compassionate and prophetic analysis of the potential and problems of violent technologies deserves a wide readership. (Revd Helen Paynter, PhD, Tutor in Biblical Studies and Coordinator of Theological Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, Bristol Baptist College) Prescient, sobering, and clairvoyant ... this book unpacks the psychological, gendered, and global history and future of violent tech for those of us in a gaming chair, church pew, or design lab. Smith brings together unlikely, but necessary conversation partners-feminist and womanist theologians, ancient and modern philosophers, technologists and scientists-to respond to this urgent ethical concern. (Kate Ott, Jerre and Mary Joy Stead Professor of Christian Ethics, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary)