Dr. King on Technology

Although today is a day “on” at Small Dog Electronics, we are still very much in observance of the national holiday, and the great man whose life inspired it. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr worked tirelessly promoting–and achieving–civil rights for all. During a turbulent era, Dr. King maintained a passive and nonviolent stance in all of his protests, instigating societal change in a truly inspiring manner. Though Dr. King passionately delivered numerous speeches during his life, he offered especially enlightening words on technology in his 1964 Nobel Lecture. Highlighted in an article originally featured on Gizmodo, the following excerpt is from Dr. King’s 1964 Lecture at Oslo, Norway.

Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.

This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual “lag” must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the “without” of man’s nature subjugates the “within”, dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.