…of tweets and texts

Just like many others, I find myself this morning juggling several jobs at once.  On the one hand, I have a sermon to write about how we relate to each other, based on Ecclesiastes 4. On the other hand, I am considering a request to address an international gathering of aid workers on shaping the future whilst maintaining their Christian distinctiveness.  Meanwhile, in the background my twitter feed occasionally trills with updates from the Google #bigtentuk meeting today. Under discussion there are issues of privacy, ownership and innovation.

So, with Solomon’s ancient words about the nature of human relationships before me, and my mind turning to issues of shaping the future, I find myself confronted with this, from the former CEO of Google at this morning’s gathering:

innovation occurs when people question the dominant zeitgeist

Yes, yes, yes – and thank you Eric Schmidt! It is moments like this which remind me why I prefer to prepare my sermons against a background of digital noise, rather than in an air of monastic silence.

There is a question, though, which I would like to pass on from King Solomon to the gathering in that BigTent in Watford. Isn’t there a point at which the innovators who have shaped the zeitgeist end up defending it, since their investment in it is so high? (Ecclesiastes 4 v.4)

I suspect that even Google’s admirably sunny mission statement “don’t be evil” gets put to the test when competitive sharks are in the water…