4 Michael Stroh paradigm and not the other way around. The development of medieval Jewish law may not be, simply, an application of, or evolution of the Talmud . Post-Enlightenment Judaism was a paradigm shift and the creation of something new. Will the Internet result in more than simply a few adjustments to new technology, but in a paradigm shift that creates a flip in the way we conceive reality? And how will Judaism respond to this?

Now let us broaden our perspective to technology, in general. We are used to the idea that technology is neutral; we can apply it for good or for evil. But some disagree. Jacques Ellul , sociologist and theologian, in his book The Technological Society, says that technology is negative. It rules us and not the other way around. In our culture, it is a mitzvah(commandment) to do whatever technology enables us to do and to refrain from an action we have the technical capacity to do is a sin. We live in a Tower of Babel culture. Like a snowball gathering more and more Snow as it rolls along until there is no snow left, technology will fulfill all its potential. Technical surveillance means that, ultimately, we will all be surveyed constantly with monitoring of our computers, tapped phones, cameras watching every street. A man is in a shopping mall and he is standing next to a map of the mall. On the map is an X., and it says“You are here.” The man says:” How do they always know where I am?” If you have a car or Blackberry with a GPS, they always do know where you are. Does this seem a little paranoid? That doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Presently in development are devices for digital face recognition and in December, 2009 the Israeli Knesset passed a law approving a data base of biometric information which could be placed on citizens’ identity cards. I remember many years ago reading that the F.B.I had stolen the membership list of the Union of American Congregations. They got it back, but I suspect the F.B.I. copied it. Why would the F.B.I. want the U.A.H.C’s membership list?