BY LUKE BURGIS
What would happen? This is the question I asked myself in a literal DC bar after overhearing three young men discussing the merits and dangers of Bitcoin.
I ordered a gin martini, slightly dirty, and made up a story about the three guys as I often like to do when I’m people-watching, or people-listening. It’s a game my wife and I like to play together while we’re out.
Nearly all contemporary conversation about technology and progress falls flat because it lacks the philosophical and theological underpinnings to frame questions the right way, and the depth to explore them. So I imagined a scenario in which it was a conversation I actually wanted to listen to: between Socrates, the father of Western philosophy; Thomas Aquinas, the preeminent theologian of the Middle Ages; and Steve Jobs, the visionary tech innovator of our time.
The question I can’t escape is: What would happen if the three metaphorical cities of Athens (reason), Jerusalem (religious wisdom), and Silicon Valley (technological innovation) collaborated robustly rather than siloed themselves into parochial clubs and provincial ways of thinking? What if there was true cross-pollination between the best of what has been thought, the highest aspirations of the soul, and the bold action required to build great and magnificent things?
At Catholic University, we have an opportunity to educate, support, and invest in an ecosystem of creators who drink from the well of the Catholic intellectual life, time-tested spiritual practices and wisdom, and a tradition of building that has made American innovation the envy of the world. In a recent Pew survey, 80% of Americans believe religion is losing its role in public life, and most think that’s a bad thing. Because of this, many new ventures feel one-dimensional.
Nearly all contemporary conversation about technology and progress falls flat because it lacks the philosophical and theological underpinnings to frame questions the right way, and the depth to explore them.
After I overheard the conversation in the bar, I laid out my thoughts on the siloing of the world in an article that was featured in WIRED magazine titled “The Three City Problem of Modern Life.” This concept — the disconnection between our centers of reason, faith, and innovation — resonated with many, leading to a conference at Catholic University last year which brought together representatives from these three “cities.” This year, on the strength of that event, we have received a $2.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to begin building a new architecture of engagement and collaboration.
This new initiative, the CLUNY Project, aims to be a modern-day nexus where the three cities of Athens, Jerusalem, and Silicon Valley can converge and collaborate. It takes its inspiration from the most famous abbey in medieval Europe, the priory of Cluny, founded in 910 A.D. in Burgundy, France. Cluny became the nexus of intellectual life, spiritual renewal, and innovation from architecture to agriculture to healthcare. It led to the Cluniac reforms, through which hundreds of monasteries were revitalized.
A similar opportunity lies before us. We can serve the thousands of businesses and organizations in our country where ethical frameworks are poorly articulated and confusion reigns, and in which people of good will struggle to find meaning and value in their work. We can help cultivate virtue. We can help build things in three dimensions.
In the next three years, CLUNY will be hosting events that bring together key stakeholders, launching a media initiative to model new forms of public engagement, and developing educational programs that teach frameworks for thinking about innovation and progress in a more philosophically and theologically robust way.
The truth is that Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, and Steve Jobs have never walked into a bar together, so we don’t know what might have happened. But through the CLUNY Project, we will soon find out.
