Tomorrow's Troubles

The first examination of predictive technology from the perspective of Catholic theologyProbabilistic predictions of future risk govern much of society. In business and politics alike, institutional structures manage risk by controlling the behavior of consumers and citizens. New technologies comb through past data to predict and shape future action. Choosing between possible future paths can cause anxiety as every decision becomes a calculation to achieve the most optimal outcome. Tomorrows Troubles is the first book to use virtue ethics to analyze these pressing issues. Paul Scherz uses a theological analysis of risk and practical reason to show how risk-based decision theory reorients our relationships to the future through knowledge of possible dangers and foregone opportunitiesand fosters a deceptive hope for total security. Scherz presents this view of temporality as problematic because it encourages a desire for stability through ones own efforts instead of reliance on God. He also argues that the largest problem with predictive models is that they do not address individual reason and free will. Instead of dwelling on a future, we cannot control, we can use our past experiences and the Christian tradition to focus on discerning Gods will in the present. Tomorrows Troubles offers a thoughtful new framework that will help Christians benefit from the positive aspects of predictive technologies while recognizing Gods role in our lives and our futures.