Your evaluation and treatment of technology was insightful and useful. I would add one point regarding the abortions statistics. It is unclear whether your statistics include chemical abortions. Although surgical abortions have been in decline, chemical abortions have risen. Although I haven’t seen great statistics, if chemical abortions are included, I would wonder if the overall number of abortion would be in decline. The one point you made, which was unclear to me, at least was how taking the fruit from the tree of good and evil was an example of technology. I felt like that was a less obvious example than the others provided. Thanks for sharing.
2. With respect to fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:
- Eve (and presumably Adam) "knew" that by eating this fruit their "eyes will open and [they] will be like divine beings [elohim/theoi] who know good and evil." (Gen. 3:5.)
- Adam and Eve, with this knowledge, ate the fruit and were transformed: "the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked." (Gen. 3:7.)
-Thus, they applied knowledge to transform their environment, themselves in this case. This is the essence of technology. Adam and Eve's use of the fruit is akin to a pregnant woman using mifepristone to transform herself into one who is not pregnant.
There is an ontological transformation of humanity effected by eating the fruit. It is not (just) that Adam/Eve violated God's statute and were now liable for their disobedience. They (and creation) were transformed by eating the fruit:
- And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (Gen. 3:22.)
Thanks for working through this long paper, and for the comments.
1. With respect to chemical abortions:
-It is not clear what percentage of these are captured in the numbers I presented. It is greater than 0% and less than 100%. The CDC distinguishes between "surgical" and "medication" (chemical) induced abortion. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/ss/ss7209a1.htm.) Guttmacher makes the same distinction ("procedural" vs "medication"). (See Jones et al., n.5 above.)
-Both the CDC and Guttmacher capture only reported abortions. The reporting, even to the CDC, is voluntary. The 1998-2021 CDC data, e.g., does not include California abortions. Guttmacher data suggests California alone accounted for about 17% of reported abortions in the US in 2020 (154,060/930,160).
- The CDC data suggests 53% of reported abortions in 2021 were "early medication abortions" (<= 9 weeks gestation) and 3% were medication abortions > 9 weeks gestation. The reported early abortions are typically the administration of mifepristone followed by misoprostol.
- The Guttmacher data suggests 53% of reported abortions in 2020 were medication induced, 39% in 2017. Guttmacher attempted to capture abortions facilitated via "quick pick-up of mifepristone, mailing medications for medication abortion, and using an online pharmacy for prescribing abortion medications." Guttmacher notes that "While mifepristone may have made abortion more accessible—for example, allowing abortion to be provided via telemedicine ... Medication abortion has been increasing since it was introduced in 2000, even while abortion was declining nationally; greater use of medication abortion does not automatically increase abortion incidence."
Your evaluation and treatment of technology was insightful and useful. I would add one point regarding the abortions statistics. It is unclear whether your statistics include chemical abortions. Although surgical abortions have been in decline, chemical abortions have risen. Although I haven’t seen great statistics, if chemical abortions are included, I would wonder if the overall number of abortion would be in decline. The one point you made, which was unclear to me, at least was how taking the fruit from the tree of good and evil was an example of technology. I felt like that was a less obvious example than the others provided. Thanks for sharing.
2. With respect to fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:
- Eve (and presumably Adam) "knew" that by eating this fruit their "eyes will open and [they] will be like divine beings [elohim/theoi] who know good and evil." (Gen. 3:5.)
- Adam and Eve, with this knowledge, ate the fruit and were transformed: "the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked." (Gen. 3:7.)
-Thus, they applied knowledge to transform their environment, themselves in this case. This is the essence of technology. Adam and Eve's use of the fruit is akin to a pregnant woman using mifepristone to transform herself into one who is not pregnant.
There is an ontological transformation of humanity effected by eating the fruit. It is not (just) that Adam/Eve violated God's statute and were now liable for their disobedience. They (and creation) were transformed by eating the fruit:
- And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” (Gen. 3:22.)
Thanks for working through this long paper, and for the comments.
1. With respect to chemical abortions:
-It is not clear what percentage of these are captured in the numbers I presented. It is greater than 0% and less than 100%. The CDC distinguishes between "surgical" and "medication" (chemical) induced abortion. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/ss/ss7209a1.htm.) Guttmacher makes the same distinction ("procedural" vs "medication"). (See Jones et al., n.5 above.)
-Both the CDC and Guttmacher capture only reported abortions. The reporting, even to the CDC, is voluntary. The 1998-2021 CDC data, e.g., does not include California abortions. Guttmacher data suggests California alone accounted for about 17% of reported abortions in the US in 2020 (154,060/930,160).
- The CDC data suggests 53% of reported abortions in 2021 were "early medication abortions" (<= 9 weeks gestation) and 3% were medication abortions > 9 weeks gestation. The reported early abortions are typically the administration of mifepristone followed by misoprostol.
- The Guttmacher data suggests 53% of reported abortions in 2020 were medication induced, 39% in 2017. Guttmacher attempted to capture abortions facilitated via "quick pick-up of mifepristone, mailing medications for medication abortion, and using an online pharmacy for prescribing abortion medications." Guttmacher notes that "While mifepristone may have made abortion more accessible—for example, allowing abortion to be provided via telemedicine ... Medication abortion has been increasing since it was introduced in 2000, even while abortion was declining nationally; greater use of medication abortion does not automatically increase abortion incidence."