Font Rants on Many Subjects

Personalization of Faith.

I'm meditating on what my TiVo means for the future of faith. Every storyteller knows that if you tell 50 people a story, even at the same time, you'll actually end up with 50 unique viewpoints on the story. Sure many will be similar; but they will not be the same. People are terrible at listening; mostly they just hear what they want to hear. Still technology is making it possible for every story to actually be personalized. You know what someone hears when you speak; and the technology starts shaping the message around when they pay attention. The TiVo knows what I want to watch and gives me more. I don't have to flip channels anymore hunting for entertainment; I don't have to explore; I am filled everynight with more of what I like.
During the Presidential debates the focus groups have little dial boxes that show exactly when each person hears something they agree or disagree with. The winner of the debate is the one who can get the highest score all the time from the viewers. I wonder if the big mega churches have started to do this. Does Josh Ossenstein (sp?) have a selected focus group in a closed room somewhere watching him on the monitor giving him feedback on his sermon before he delivers it to the big audience on Sunday? This kind of work does create a utilitarian world. The greatest sermon is the one liked by the most people. What happens when you can give 50 individual sermons.

Imagine if you will taking a speech or a video and carving up each paragraph. Each section would target a different group with some common binding themes (e.g. security, family, happiness). Based on a profile of the recipient of the video, or podcast; a different message is sent. One tailored to the audience. Real time mass customization of broadcast media. You pull down Josh from your cable on demand system; and the sermon you get is tied to your life. The individual touch provided by the minister at coffee hour after church is replaced by a phony relationship with a software agent. The helpful clerk in the small who once new your shirt size when you walked in the door; is replaced by a database that looks it up when you sign on to the website.

What does this mean for the future of religion. Everyone comes to their own set of beliefs as they live their life. We base our beliefs on the stories we hear; and sometimes we change our mind based on listening to something we don't want to hear. Will we soon stop hearing anyone disagree with us. Will we end up living our lives in a bubble of reinforcing media. Amazon never tries to challenge us. Perhaps we will program challenge into the system. However I think we will find people will turn those features off. In the end we all want to hear the story we want to tell.