Technology: A Bite of the Apple

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was planted in the Garden of Eden. This was used by God to test whether Adam and Eve were ready to eat from the Tree of Life.

They ate the fruit and were evicted from the Garden.

In the West, it was common for the fruit to be depicted as an apple. We see the imagery here:

I find it strange that one of the myths which has been handed down to the West about Isaac Newton involved an apple.

The story below was relayed by Newton’s first biographer,

“After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank thea, under the shade of some apple trees…he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself…”

I wonder why some stories end up as myths. Probably because there is a deeper truth hidden within the story. In the case of Isaac and the apple, I get a sense that the story of Adam and Eve is leaching through.

Maybe the myth is trying to express the temptation to trust technology more than God is similar to the Fall.

Steve Job’s Apple

The company Apple derives its name from the story of Isaac Newton.  Here is an early logo of Apple.

The apple symbolises the temptation of relying completely on technology.

The logo was further updated to show the apple with a bite mark.

I understand Apple are not explicitly linking the logo to the story in Genesis, by to Isaac Newton. But the underlying sentiments carry through.

Through this myth, technology is linked to the story of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

Modern Technology has the potential to meet any desire we may have, no matter how base or immoral.  The seven deadly sins from Proverbs, are now within everyone grasp, and to excess.

We must resist gorging ourselves using technology and instead place God first. Or sins will greatly multiply and the story of the Flood will repeat in our culture.