Is there anything more satisfying than telling someone off online and never physically encountering that person? Well, that’s what many people love about online platforms, where unaccountable remote posting doesn’t force us to come to terms with how we talk and interact with others.
Some fascinating studies have found that people are likelier to write something about another individual that they’d never say to their face. Moreover, people are more likely to travel to an explicit website than if that website was embodied in a physical place. The digital world has created endless possibilities, but where do our ethics fit into the conversation?
“Many of us think of ethics as a science somewhat like mathematics; we plug the components of human actors and social circumstances into an ethical rule book, and voila! We get a ‘right’ answer for how to behave,” said Dr. Kate Ott on the CBF Podcast Conversation.
This conversation leads off with references to the Breakdown Whiteness project, resources to dismantle white supremacy brick by brick.
Ott is the professor of Christian Social Ethics and the Director of the Stead Center on Ethics and Values at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She has authored several books, including the focus of our conversation, Sex, Tech, & Faith: Ethics for a Digital Age.
Soundcloud link: https://soundcloud.com/user-13081408/kate-ott-sex-tech-and-faith
