The efficiency-pragmatist paradigm—for which we seem to have no alternative in how we decide what is best for individuals and for society collectively—is starkly highlighted by the rush to plow ahead with AI solutions and all the promises of a bright future we are being sold.
The same paradigm is responsible for the ethical and moral compromises that bankers, real estate agents, other intermediaries, and homebuyers themselves fell into leading up to the 2008 crash. That produced massive economic dislocation, the ramifications of which are still with us today.
It is clearly on display in a Bloomberg Investigates episode on zombie mortgages and the taking advantage of people who are just trying to make it.
At the root of it, the efficiency-pragmatist paradigm asks only “What works?” or “What can we do with this?” instead of “Should we do this?” or “Is this right?” That second set of questions seems to have left the station a long time ago.
The paradigm is responsible for the AI-driven layoffs many C-suites across the West are engaged in—causing massive disruption to families and organizations—followed by regret when those same leaders realize their effort does not pan out as envisioned. They were focused on one thing: shareholder value and a board telling them to go, go.
In our work, our churches, our families, and our social connections, the efficiency-pragmatist paradigm reduces us to utilitarian pawns. We use others as objects and ask, “What can I gain from this relationship?” instead of “What can I give to this relationship?”—and not only in a monetary way.
It is responsible for many of the marriage troubles I have seen over the years, where career is primary for both spouses for the sake of “the good life,” and family life is a nice-to-have rather than central (and, more importantly, Christ is not central).
The efficiency-pragmatist paradigm asks how far you can push an effort or endeavor up to the breaking point in the hope of gain.
The heart of the efficiency-pragmatist paradigm is that, if left unchecked, it too often devolves into one thing: greed. That greed sits at the root of the catalog of things Paul names at the end of Romans 1 and fuels the downward spiral he describes—the human condition in a fallen world apart from Christ.
We need a new paradigm as a society. That will require a heart change.