Richard G. Epstein is a Professor of Computer Science at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He received his doctorate in Computer and Information Sciences from Temple University in 1988. His interests include software engineering, computer ethics, the social and spiritual implications of computing, and computer security. Epstein has written numerous short stories and plays about the future of technology, with an emphasis on its spiritual and moral implications. Epstein's novel, The Case of the Killer Robot (Wily and Sons, 1997), has been translated for the web distribution into Danish, Italian, and Portuguese. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

THE SOUL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE: Part One of Four By Richard G. Epstein

Introduction

This essay attempts to explore the soul of computer science. We do not present or assume a definition for "soul", but appeal instead to an intuitive understanding of what soul might be about. We depend heavily upon the characterization of soul that is found in Thomas Moore's book, Care for the Soul [1]. This characterization does not appeal to any particular religion's attitude towards soul. Although Moore was trained as a seminarian and earned his doctorate in religious studies, his discussion of soul is rooted in psychology and in his seventeen years of experience as a clinical psychologist. Moore achieves a non-sectarian and intuitive concept of soul which computer scientists of many different persuasions might be able to embrace. Moore's work, in turn was influenced by the writings of the psychologist, James Hillman [2].

This essay is not intended as an endorsement for the school of psychology, archetypal psychology, that Moore and Hillman represent. Their characterization of soul as relating to depth is appropriate for the limited purposes of this essay, which is to show that computer science has soul. Moore's book, in particular, with its non-sectarian and almost non-specific depiction of soul will serve as an excellent point of departure for our discussion.

Hopefully, this essay will enable some readers to view computer science in an entirely new way. The author's intention is to utilize Moore's psychological conception of soul as a tool for discovering new meaning and beauty in our discipline. An appreciation for meaning and beauty can inspire new enthusiasm and new creative efforts. Furthermore, appreciating the meaning and beauty of computer science can play a role in improving the information technology workplace, which in many instances needs to be redesigned on many levels.

The author contends that computer science is a soulful discipline. It has a special, even exciting, beauty when viewed in this way. The soulfulness of computer science is not an esoteric idea that is irrelevant to the practical concerns of professionals who work in industry or professors who teach computer science. For one thing, an appreciation for the soulfulness of our discipline can make computer science more exciting and more attractive for our students. This concept can inspire the design of new courses both for majors and for non-majors. It can inspire new interdisciplinary courses that will help students from the humanities, the arts, and from other scientific disciplines, to appreciate the true profundity of computer science. It can stimulate new streams of research into the psychological and spiritual dimensions of computing.

The good news is that computer science has lots of soul. If we are missing the soul in computer science, it is because we have not been trained to look for it. A soulless vision of computer science is the result of a kind of cognitive and perceptual myopia. Computer science did not evolve from disciplines in which soul was an overt consideration. Our intellectual roots are in mathematics, science, and engineering. Soulfulness was usually not a central focus of these disciplines. However, mathematics, science, and engineering certainly have soul. Indeed, one can argue that the scholars who were most influential in discussing the soulfulness of mathematics, science, and engineering were precisely the most creative voices in their respective fields. Perhaps this was because the great luminaries were given "permission" by their colleagues to wax philosophical. The result is the kind of self-reflective literature in which a great physicist, for example, might speculate on ultimate issues in the cosmos, or a mathematician might write about mathematical order in some Platonic reverie. David Gelernter is a well-known computer scientist who wrote a book of this nature [3]. From this book we learn a bit about the soul of computer science from the perspective that there is beauty and elegance in our machines, languages, and algorithms. Any computer science text that stresses aesthetics has soul.

If the good news is that computer science has lots of soul, then the bad news is that computer science is usually not viewed as having anything to do with soul. Let us consider academia, for example. An individual professor might be soulful just by virtue of her passion and enthusiasm for the subject, or because of her genuine concern and love for her students. Yet, the soulfulness of the subject matter is rarely discussed in an explicit manner.

The author hopes that this essay will convince at least some readers that there are deep currents of soulfulness running throughout computer science. Furthermore, some of these currents are far from obvious. Beyond that, even the currents that the author mentions and develops in this essay represent the tip of the iceberg. In some sense, the appreciation of the soulfulness of computer science is an individual project. We will not arrive at a universal characterization of the soulfulness of computer science that is appropriate for everybody. We can, however, come to a consensus that soulfulness is there and that it is important. We might even arrive at a broad enough consensus to develop a vocabulary and a language for discussing the soulfulness of computer science and how it should be taught and how this understanding can be used to transform the workplace. In addition, there is a research agenda implicit in the realization that computer science has soul. We shall discuss that agenda at various points in this essay. This research agenda lies at the intersection of computer science, information systems, psychology, philosophy, religion (or, spiritual traditions) and sociology.

Computer science has a special soulfulness because of the manner in which computer systems are built. Teams build computer systems and successful teamwork requires soul work. In addition, computer systems mirror human mental processes in a profound manner and this understanding is one aspect of the soulfulness of our discipline. Computer science has a special soulfulness because the language that is emerging in our discipline has a strong resonance with spiritual concepts that have been around for several millennia. I contend that emerging technologies, such as virtual reality, cyberspace, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, will enable us to discuss certain spiritual realities in a much more precise manner than ever before. This will bestow upon human beings new powers, unimaginable to previous generations. There is something spiritual about the machines that we are building, and these machines will enrich our spiritual language.

It is natural to make predictions about the future as we enter a new century and a new millennium. We might view human history as the outward manifestation of issues and conflicts that arise within the soul. I would venture to say that some of the most important spiritual conflicts in the coming century will relate to computer technology and its uses. As we develop cyberspace, virtual reality, nanotechnology, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, we will constantly have to ask ourselves whether these technologies are promoting human happiness (which is the central issue in soulfulness) or whether these technologies are driven by a soul-denying agenda, such as efficiency for efficiency's sake or profit for profit's sake. We will continuously be challenged to assert soulfulness as an alternate value to profit and expediency, authentic life as an alternative to artificial life, and authentic presence as an alternative to a digitally mediated presence. Again and again we will be forced to answer questions such as: Does this technology have soul? Does this technology help human beings to live soulful lives? Or, does this technology destroy soul? Does this technology demoralize human beings? Does this technology thwart or foster the evolution of consciousness?

In the next section, we will discuss Moore's concept of soul, especially as it relates to workplace issues. We will then devote considerable attention to what Moore calls the "alchemy of work." In that discussion we will show how work in computer science has profound spiritual meaning. Then, we will discuss other soulful issues in computer science, with an understanding that this essay is self-consciously an initial exploration.

The Soul and Its Imperatives

In this section I will discuss Moore's psychological concept of soul and why this is an important idea for understanding and working with computer technology. This section summarizes those ideas in Moore's book, Care of the Soul [1], that are most directly related to soulfulness in computer science.

Moore is a clinical psychologist. He sees patients that have symptoms. These symptoms are viewed as the "voice of the soul." The imperatives of the soul have not been met, and the result is that symptoms arise. For example, when the soulfulness of work is not acknowledged in the information technology workplace, the symptoms of depression, alienation, and boredom arise. If a technology is released that lacks soulfulness, then that can cause symptoms, such as alienation, physical illness, and even violence. Thus, the soul has its imperatives, and if these are not satisfied or attended to, then the soul expresses its unhappiness through symptoms of various kinds.

We can see these symptoms manifesting in the information technology workplace. Gary Chapman reported a study that found that no college major has a higher rate of dissatisfaction among its graduates a few years after graduation than does computer science [4]. The empirical evidence suggests (for example, as reflected in ComputerWorld's surveys of information technology professionals [5]), that the existing reality in the IT workplace is that much work in information technology lacks soul. This is not because the work intrinsically lacks soul. Rather, it is because the individuals involved in this work are unaware of the soulful aspects of their work.

Moore is neither a materialist fundamentalist nor a religious fundamentalist. Most of us know what a religious fundamentalist is, but what is a materialist fundamentalist? The robotics researcher, Hans Moravec, characterizes himself as a physical fundamentalist in his book, Robot [6]. Moravec's description of physical fundamentalism is essentially what Moore calls materialist fundamentalism. Here is Moravec's self-description from Robot:

"During the last few centuries, physical science has convincingly answered so many questions about the nature of things, and so hugely increased our abilities, that many see it as the only legitimate claimant to the title of true knowledge. Other belief systems may have social utility for the groups that practice them, but ultimately they are just made-up stories. I myself am partial to such 'physical fundamentalism'". (Page 191, Moravec [6])

It is unfortunate that Moravec characterizes religious knowledge in such a naive way. As a story-teller myself, I am disappointed that he does not appreciate the profound kinds of knowledge that can be communicated by means of this ancient art. In fairness to Moravec, I would like to add that his book Robot presents a soaring vision of what robotics and artificial intelligence is all about, a vision that borders on the mystical. On the other hand Moravec's views concerning the insignificance of human life, as quoted in Dery [7, pp. 306-8], are disturbing.

Moore wants nothing to do with fundamentalism of any kind, be it religious or materialistic. Here is a quote from Moore's discussion of materialistic fundamentalism:

"In our spirituality, we reach for consciousness, awareness, and the highest values; in our soulfulness, we endure the most pleasurable and the most exhausting of human experiences and emotions. ... No one needs to be told that we live in a time of materialism and consumerism, of lost values and a shift in ethical standards. We find ourselves tempted to call for a return to old values and ways. ... [W]e want to keep in mind Jung's warning about dealing with present difficulties by wishing for a return to former conditions. He calls this maneuver a 'regressive restoration of the persona.' ... The key to lost spirituality and numbing materialism is not merely to intensify our quest for spirituality, but to reimagine it." (Pages 231-2. All page numbers are for Care of the Soul [1] unless noted otherwise.)

He goes on to assert: "The cure for materialism, then, would be to find concrete ways of getting soul back into our spiritual practices, our intellectual life, and our emotional and physical engagements with the world." (Page 232) In particular, we need to get soul back into our work.

I realize that this sort of language might make some academic computer scientists uncomfortable. However, it is probably the case that the majority of actual practitioners of computer science are spiritual people with spiritual values. It may be that academic computer science is more skewed towards materialist fundamentalism than the computer technology workplace where most of our students will work. My own belief is that computer science as an academic discipline is too important to surrender to the forces of materialist fundamentalism. That would be just as dangerous and as destructive to the human spirit as surrendering computer technology to any form of religious fundamentalism. We need to acknowledge different voices and different perspectives. Computer technology must serve and acknowledge the human reality, in all of its diversity and mystery.

Unfortunately, there are materialist fundamentalists who work in computer technology and who wield tremendous influence in the development of that technology. Here is Moore's description of materialist fundamentalism in the information technology workplace:

"The pursuit of intellectual and technical knowledge can be undertaken with an excessive fervor or monotheistic single-mindedness sometimes found in the spiritual life. Tracy Kidder's book The Soul of a New Machine doesn't really talk about the soul, but it does describe computer inventors and developers as dedicated, self-denying technicians who devote their lives, often to the detriment of their families, to their vision of a technological age. They are 'monks of the machine'; caught up in the spirit of their work, like monks of old, they can come to lead an ascetic life in enthusiastic pursuit of a machine that reproduces as much of the natural world as possible in light and electronics. The computer itself, in its refinement of the concrete particulars of life in digital mathematics and light graphics, is, for better or worse, a kind of spiritualization or disembodiment of matter. Medieval monks, too, busied themselves in their own method of sublimating earthly life in intellectual knowledge and reading - copying books and tending to revered libraries." (Page 233)

Let us note in passing that the empirical data that indicates high rates of job dissatisfaction among computer science professionals might be interpreted to mean that some of these professionals are being recruited into information technology monasteries without a full appreciation of what they are getting themselves into. They are drawn into the computer monasteries by the lure of money. They do not realize the price that they will have to pay for this Faustian bargain. The monastery's agenda is not the soul's agenda. The distress that the soul feels in a soul-destroying workplace is what Moore would call a symptom. In such a context a symptom is a sign of health. It represents the possibility of rebirth and rejuvenation. It can give the computer professional the desire and the motivation to escape the monastery and to find a more soulful situation. It might even give the computer professional an opportunity to transform the monastery into something different. It is when the symptom is ignored that the computer professional runs into trouble. Surrender to a soulless reality is a kind of spiritual death.

The idea of a symptom as a sign of spiritual health is found in Christian Bobin's book, The Secret of Francis of Assissi [8]. Bobin describes a spiritual crisis in the soul-life of the young Francis of Assissi, before he realizes his spiritual vocation. This spiritual crisis manifests as an illness that speaks to the future saint clearly and dramatically:

"Three words give you fever. Three words nail you to the bed: change your life. That is the goal. It is clear and simple. But you see no road that would lead to that goal. Sickness is the absence of a road, an uncertainty about how to go on. You are not facing a question, you are on the inside of it. You are the question yourself." (Bobin [8], p. 36).

I wonder how many people who work with technology have experienced an illness of this nature.

Moore's concept of soul is psychological. It is not overtly religious. It is non-sectarian. It is a theory concerning mental health that does not distinguish between mental health and spiritual health. Moore states that psychology is essentially spirituality. I think there is a growing realization within the psychological community that this is the case. For example, the growing acceptance of spirituality and the importance of spirituality for mental health is discussed in Glynn's book, God: the Evidence [9]. There is much empirical evidence that spiritual people are less prone to depression than those who do not have spiritual beliefs. Human beings need a deep spirituality in order to be happy and fulfilled, to enjoy the richness of soul. This does not mean that human beings need to adhere to a particular sectarian or theological belief. What human beings do need is an understanding of their own souls, of the human reality that the soul enshrines and reveals.

In the introduction to his book, Moore informs us that his concept of soul derives from spiritual writings of the Middle Ages and especially the Renaissance. He repeatedly refers to the works of Marsilio Ficino and Paracelsus. He describes their books as self-help books of that era. But, these self-help books were quite different from the modern day variety that emphasizes self-improvement, a term which Moore uses with some contempt. He sees self-improvement as a device for adjusting to a culture that is out of balance and out of touch with its own soul. For example, if a slave learns how to haul twenty bales of cotton instead of just ten, then in the context of a slave-based economy, this can be called self-improvement. But, it has nothing to do with the health of the soul. The Renaissance self-help books were about grounding oneself in the delights of the soul, finding happiness in ordinary things, including one's work. These books stress the importance of expressing soulfulness in one's life and of avoiding repression of fundamental human needs.

Here is how Moore describes the Renaissance approach to spirituality and mental health:

"[The Renaissance approach] gave recipes for good living and offered suggestions for a practical, down-to-earth philosophy of life. I'm interested in this humbler approach, one that is more accepting of human foibles, and indeed sees dignity and peace as emerging more from that acceptance than from any method of transcending the human condition" (page xii).

While Moore mentions many twentieth century authors, none appears more frequently than Carl Jung, one of the few psychologists of the Freudian era who acknowledged the importance of religion and spirituality. Moore's mentor, James Hillman, was a student of Jung. Consequently, Moore draws upon the concept of archetype, which is important in Jungian psychology. In addition, Moore takes advantage of many examples from Greek mythology which illustrate the archetypal dimensions of the soul and psyche. When Moore attacks "monotheism," he is attacking narrow concepts of God that deny the polymorphic revelation of the Divine. There is one God, but God takes many forms.

Moore's writing is poetic, lyrical, and truly moving at times. He captures our attention right from the start with the following observation about "loss of soul":

"The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is 'loss of soul.' When the soul is neglected, it doesn't just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning." (page xi)

Obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning are all ideas that arise in discussions of the social implications of computing. Therefore, the concept of soul, as expounded in Moore's book, might provide a useful means of understanding these phenomena as symptoms of an underlying spiritual illness.

Moore does not attempt to define soul. However, he does offer us the following:

"It is impossible to define precisely what the soul is. Definition is an intellectual enterprise anyway; the soul prefers to imagine. We know intuitively that soul has to do with genuineness and depth, as when we say certain music has soul or a remarkable person is soulful. When you look closely at the image of soulfulness, you see that it is tied to life in all its particulars - good food, satisfying conversation, genuine friends, and experiences that stay in the memory and touch the heart. Soul is revealed in attachment, love, and community, as well as in retreat on behalf of inner communing and intimacy." (pages xi-xii).

Let us now focus on the specific concepts in Moore's book which seem to be directly applicable to computer science, to workplace issues in information technology, and to the social implications of computing. One such concept is that of power. In a chapter on the relationship between soul and power Moore states that "'Repression of the life force' is a diagnosis I believe would fit most of the emotional problems people present in therapy" (page 127). In particular, emotional symptoms appear when people deny the soul's need for power. We are not talking about tyrannical or abusive power here. We are talking about the satisfaction that the soul derives from a sense of competence, from a sense of autonomy, from the experience of artfulness and mastery, and from the feeling that derives from playing a decisive role in the unfolding of events. If an information technology worker does not feel a sense of power, then this will give rise to some of the symptoms that we discussed earlier, such as depression or fatigue, or even anger.

Moore devotes an entire chapter to work and work related issues, such as money, creativity, and failure. Near the beginning of his chapter on work, Moore makes the following observation, based upon his work as a clinical psychologist:

"One of the most unconscious of our daily activities from the perspective of the soul is work and the settings of work - the office, factory, store, studio, or home. I have found in my practice over the years that the conditions of work have at least as much to do with disturbances of soul as marriage and family. Yet it is tempting simply to make adjustments in response to problems at work without recognizing the deep issues involved. Certainly we allow the workplace to be dominated by function and efficiency, thereby leaving us open to the complaints of the neglected soul. We could benefit psychologically from a heightened consciousness about the poetry of work - its style, tools, timing, and environment." (page 177-8)

[End of Part One of Four Parts]

References

1. Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1992, 312 pp.

2. James Hillman, A Blue Fire, Harper Perennial, New York, 1989, 323 pp.

3. David Gelernter, Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology, BasicBooks, New York, 1998, 166 pp.

4. Gary Chapman, "Tech Workers Are in Demand, but Field Has Dark Side", Los Angeles Times, Business Section, May 10, 1999.

5. Computerworld's workplace surveys are kept in the following repository:http://www.computerworld.com/res/careers/surv_index.html

6. Hans Moravec, Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999, 227 pp.

7. Mark Dery, Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century, Grove Press, New York, 1996, 376 pp.

8. Christian Bobin, The Secret of Francis of Assissi, Shambala, Boston, 1999, 102 pp.

9. Patrick Glynn, God: The Evidence, Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA, 1997, 216 pp.

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Published   2003.08.13