“There is a kind of technology that is easily distinguishable from magic – a kind that involves us more and more deeply as persons rather than diminishing and sidelining us. This kind of technology elevates and dignifies human work, rather than reducing human beings to drones that only do the work the robots have not yet automated.” –The Life We’re Looking For, page 134

In The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, Andy Crouch considers the ways new technologies shape our world as well as the desires driving the design of new technologies. He gives examples not only of technological design choices, but also of the ways these driving forces lead to systems of work, such as the routes of Amazon delivery drivers, that are “optimized for speed and efficiency […but] also engineered with perfect indifference to many of the things that make for a flourishing life” (102). Crouch works on issues of theology and culture, so the book draws heavily from the Christian tradition, but it raises questions that will resonate with any readers who want to pursue a more humane vision for technology and work.