Technology

April 11, 2019

Universal joint. The name somewhat explains it. A cross-shaped unit with little cylindrical bearings at the end of each arm covered with a cap holding everything in place, it is press-fitted in a yoke on each end of the drive shaft of my truck and bolted to matching yokes on the transmission and rear end. It enables the shaft to flex in relation to the power plant and rear end so the vehicle can be sprung. Without it, riding in the truck would be an unpleasant exercise in bone-rattling.

It’s a simple but ingenious piece of engineering that enables us to travel in relative comfort at speeds greater than a walking pace. Like the differential in the rear end behind the universal that allows the drive wheels to turn around a radius at different speeds so it doesn’t lock up or skid the tires, it’s a simple idea that required some pretty sophisticated machining to make it all work. Our lives are filled with such modern day miracles that we take for granted. Some of them are pretty simple in concept, although I wouldn’t have been smart enough to think of them, and some are pretty complicated. A friend sent me an email giving the history of the car radio, with all the problems that needed to be figured out before it could work. Not only the car radio, but the email itself is the result of technology I couldn’t begin to understand. 

I visited my audiologist today to get my new hearing aids adjusted. Tiny little things, they not only amplify only the frequencies I need, they also connect via Bluetooth to my iPhone and have an adapter that can link up with the tv. Apple watches have more computing power than that which guided the first moonwalk. 

Unfortunately, our morality hasn’t kept pace with our technology, and many of the gadgets and devices we take for granted can and are used to oppress, defraud, and dehumanize people. That’s not even considering how technology has isolated people who spend more time staring at their phones than looking into each other’s eyes. So in addition to the technology that makes life easier, I am grateful for grace and forgiveness that can in the right hands transform the nefarious purposes to which technology often gets put into avenues of community and salvation.