Our affinities in these abstract areas deserve consideration because, while their slow evolution is exceedingly difficult to observe, they mark the deepest possible penetration of technology into our social life. As you might expect, the effort to estimate the influence of technology on the tangled mesh of culture actually raises more questions than it answers. But the questions are illuminating in a way, because they each pose a series of intriguing possibilities, offering us new ways to think about and understand the changes happening all around us. There has been a great push in recent years to point out the similarities between various religions, rather than their differences.
Cultures have distinct patterns and practices.
Cultures change slowly, and some people believe information technology will help preserve and communicate the main elements of a culture so well that changes in many beliefs and practices could be arrested. Because culture tends to develop slowly, attempts to answer these questions will almost always take the form of huge conclusions drawn from tiny clues. For while we each ultimately exert a great measure of control over the beliefs and languages and customs we practice, our Culture is shared and affected by the independent choices of millions of others.