The Wisdom of Solomon in a Digital World

Recently I posted the following 'tongue-in-cheek' comment:

"I have seen that there is nothing new under the Sun..." - Ecclesiastes 1:14 - King Solomon obviously did not work in IT.

But to be truthful, the thought has been playing on my mind ever since.

If the Bible is to be taken literally then why would King Solomon in all of his wisdom say something that appears to be so obviously wrong?... Surely even Solomon saw technolgical advancement and invention in his lifetime. Surely there were new metalluurgical applications. Surely he learned new things in his legendary studies and observations of birds [the feathered variety that is! :) ].

By coincidence, this week I have become absorbed in a book about Bill Gates (Yeah, yeah...I know - "I wish")...

Interestingly Gates is renowed for his famous quote and promoting his belief that "IT changes absolutely everything". Yet in all of this he states that he does not believe that the (emerging) web lifestyle will generate changes in human nature or fundamental ways of life...rather he sees people following much the same interests but "in a better way".

I'm no Bible scholar, but when I read Ecclesiastes I read the melancholy mindset of a man who himself has brought about much change in his own lifetime...yet he makes this observation - "I have seen that there is nothing new under the Sun...".

Obviously, Solomon was lamenting about human nature and the fundamentals of life. Yes, we live in a society that is vastly different from Biblical times. But people still need to sleep, people still work for a living, people still fall in love, marry have children and pass away. People like both Solomon and Gates still achieve much. And people like Solomon and Gates (- by his own admission) - still make mistakes.

And people are still in need of God.

Internet, online shoping, movies on demand...I think - fundamentally speaking of course that "Nothing is new under the sun"...