KEYS
TECH CHANGES , THE KEYS ARE THE SAME | David Pfaltzgraff
Think back to a time when you were a child , experiencing some piece of technology for the first time that truly blew your mind .
I remember the first time my family logged into AOL , that distinctive dial-up sound , and realizing that we could just look things up on demand if we knew what to look for . I was young enough not to fully grasp the gravity , but old enough to understand that this was something just newly made possible and that would stick around .
Now think back to the last time you felt a similar feeling as an adult , when it comes to your musical experience at church .
I remember the first time I successfully connected our twenty-five year old keyboard to my computer to use as a controller , how it felt the first time I managed to control a stage light with a DMX signal , and the first time I plugged a guitar into a delay pedal .
Honestly , though it feels like a long time , not much has passed between those early childhood experiences and those more recent ones . Of course , depending on your age you may have more or less decades under your belt than I do . But what I mean , is that technology moves at such a rapid pace , it ’ s easy to miss just how fast we normalize those changes .
I got my first smartphone only nine years ago . Nine . I started my online business that same year . Wild .
Changes in technology have been ever-present on my mind recently , as we ’ ve seen Apple hype up the new era of ‘ spatial computing ’ they aim to pioneer , and as the continued growth of artificial intelligence seems to lead from one ‘ world first ’ to another every news cycle .
GUTENBERG
The printing press was groundbreaking technology when it was first invented , democratizing access to the written word in ways never before possible . This radical invention made it possible for entire classes of people to have direct access to the Bible who ’ d never before had that opportunity .
Do you think they anticipated how quickly and drastically their technology would change the world ?
As worship leaders and musicians , we have to use technology in some ways . In fact , I ’ d most often reframe that statement , emphasizing that we ‘ get ’ to use technology . It ’ s an opportunity , a privilege , and honestly in most cases , a luxury , to have access to cutting edge equipment , computers , the works .
Can we anticipate how our use of a given technology might play a part in changing the world ?
CONSTANTS
This article isn ’ t intended to be for or against
88 February 2024 Subscribe for Free ...