Technology's Influence on Spirituality and Religion: 15 Powerful Transformations Shaping Modern Faith
Technology's influence on spirituality and religion has become one of the most fascinating transformations of modern life. From livestreamed church services to meditation apps on smartphones, faith has entered the digital age. What once required physical presence now happens through screens, apps, and even artificial intelligence.
In today’s world, technology shapes how people pray, learn about sacred texts, and connect with religious communities. While some see these changes as empowering and inclusive, others worry about distraction and loss of tradition. Still, one thing is certain—technology and religion are no longer separate worlds.
This article explores how digital innovation is transforming spiritual practices, reshaping belief systems, and redefining religious communities across the globe.
The Real Cost of a Family Night at the Movies (And the Bag That Fights Back)
There is a moment every parent knows. You're standing at the movie theater concession stand, kids bouncing with excitement beside you, and you're staring at a menu that looks less like snack pricing and more like a line item from a corporate expense report. Large popcorn: $12. Two sodas: $14. A box of candy the size of your fist: $7. You do the mental math, wince quietly so the kids don't see, and reach for your card anyway.
Because that's what you do. You're at the movies. You're making memories. And apparently memories cost $33 in popcorn alone.
I've been a professional moviegoer for years. I say that literally — I review films, I analyze them through a philosophical lens, and I go to theaters the way some people go to church. Regularly, intentionally, and with a certain reverence for the experience. And over the years I've watched the cost of that experience quietly become something that prices families out of what should be one of the most accessible forms of entertainment we have.
So let's talk about what a family night at the movies
The Death of the Static: Why Modern Horror is Losing its Signal
Remembering Robert Duvall (1931–2026): A Master of the American Screen
The Mechanics of the Gate
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2026): When the Apocalypse Looks Like “Digital Slop”
ore Verbinski is back, and he has brought a trash-bag-wearing Sam Rockwell with him.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is not a franchise extension. It isn’t a safe return. It is an original, genre-bending sci-fi film that uses dark comedy and satire to explore our relationship with technology, comfort, and control.
The film kicks off in the most mundane place possible: Norm’s Diner in West Hollywood. Within seconds, the peace is shattered by a man who looks like he crawled out of a dumpster, claiming he is from a future where humanity has surrendered its soul to "digital slop."
The Real-World Tech Specs: Salyut 7 (1985)
In February 1985, the Soviet space station Salyut 7 went completely dark. A power surge knocked out the automatic docking system and the internal electronics, leaving a 20-ton cylinder of steel drifting dead in orbit. What followed was perhaps the most impressive feat of technical grit in the history of space flight—a story that feels like it was written for the screen, though the reality was far more grueling than any Hollywood dramatization.
Here, on A Constantly Racing Mind, where we bridge the gap between real-world tech and cinematic sci-fi, the Salyut 7 rescue is the ultimate case study.
Bud Cort: 1948–2026
In memory of Bud Cort, an actor who personified the soulful, the eccentric, and the resilient, we reflect on a life that was as deeply human as it was cinematic.
Bud Cort was born Walter Edward Cox in New Rochelle, New York. He grew up in a family that combined business with the arts. His father, Joseph Parker Cox, was a bandleader and pianist before venturing into business, and his mother, Alma Mary, worked in a department store and was a former reporter.
The Big Blue Milestone: February 10, 1996
The Deep Blue victory isn't about a game; it's about the moment calculated logic finally caught up to human intuition.
The Technical Shift: This was a "Brute Force" system. Deep Blue didn't "think" like a human; it processed 200 million positions per second. It was a victory of sheer engineering scale over biological genius.
PROFESSIONAL MOVIE GOER!
PROFESSIONAL MOVIEGOER T-SHIRT From A Constantly Racing Mind After analyzing hundreds of films from philosophical perspectives. From the existential dread of sci-fi to the moral complexities of horror, I've earned my credentials as a “Professional Moviegoer.”
The Beatles -The Technical Invasion: February 9, 1964
The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, was the ultimate cultural event. It wasn't just a musical performance; it was a massive shock to the technical and sociological systems that successfully overwrote the cultural software of the United States in exactly 14 minutes of airtime.
Obviously, I wasn’t old enough to remember this phenomenal cultural event. However, the Beatles have left an imprint on my generation and everyone after.
We can look past the screaming fans and focus on the systemic impact of that night.
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Dracula: A Love Tale (2025) – Why We Keep Rewriting the Monster [SPOILERS]
WARNING: This review contains FULL SPOILERS for Dracula: A Love Tale (2025).
The Dracula most people picture today is not the Dracula that existed originally in Bram Stoker’s novel. In the book, there is no reincarnated lover, no tragic romance, no redemption, and no moral ambiguity. Stoker's Dracula is not misunderstood. He is not grieving. He isn't broken by love. He is a force—invasion, disease, corruption, decay. He represents fear of the unknown, fear of contamination, and fear of the outsider.
A Critical Analysis: Travis Bickle’s Subjective Reality
Travis Bickle isn't just a driver; he is a man whose internal monologue has become a closed loop, fueled by the grime of a 1970s New York that feels like a living, breathing machine.
The Neon Lens: Cinematographer Michael Chapman shot the city through rainy windshields and distorted mirrors to mirror Travis’s deteriorating psyche. The city isn't shown as it is, but as Travis perceives it—a blur of "scum" and neon.
The "Day the Music Died" A Technical & Cultural Pivot
The crash on February 3, 1959, often called "The Day the Music Died," is a pivotal moment because it represents a "shattering of the glass" for an earlier generation.
It was a moment where the vibrant, high-energy optimism of the 1950s met a cold, technical failure in a snowy cornfield in Clear Lake, Iowa.
This day isn't just a music history post; it's about the vulnerability of icons and the sudden end of a creative era.
I wasn’t around when this happened. I would arrive years later. When Don McLean’s American Pie came out in 1971, I just thought it was just a long song. It was melodic and had some weight to it, but I didn’t know what. Sort of like Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. My dad explained what happened and who each of the musicians were. As I got older and more musically aware and developed my own tastes, I realized that Holly and Valens also influenced by their style.
The Challenger Disaster: When Science Fiction Met Hard Reality
I grew up during the "Space Age" optimism of the 60s and 70s, the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986, wasn't just a national tragedy—it was a profound "shattering of the glass."
When you are raised on a diet of NASA's successes and the futuristic promises of sci-fi, spaceflight feels like an inevitable upward climb. To see it fail so publicly, and so tragically, changed our collective "Racing Mind" from wondering when we would be living on Mars to realizing just how hostile the vacuum of space truly is.
Demond Wilson (1946–2026) – The Heart of the Junkyard
t is a heavy week for television history. Demond Wilson passing away on January 31, 2026, at the age of 79, marks the end of an era for the "Golden Age" of the 1970s sitcom. As a kid in the early 1970s, we, as a family gathered around teh TV set to watch “Sanford and Son.” We got a kick out Fred’s antics, everytime he wanted something from Lamont (Wilson) and claim that he was suddenly having a heart attack and claimed he was on his way to join his dead wife in the hearafter. The camera would focus on Wilson, and he would just role his eyes.
As far as I know, Lamont Sanford was the only major role I knew him for, but he was an actor who own a role so well, that I forget to separate the two.
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Send Help (2026): When Survival becomes a Power Trip [SPOILERS]
WARNING: This review contains FULL SPOILERS for the ending of Send Help.
Send Help is one of those films where the title tells you less than the name above it. This isn’t just a survival thriller about a plane crash; it’s a Sam Raimi film. Made late in his career, it carries the confidence of a director who knows exactly how to make an audience uncomfortable.
On the surface, it presents a familiar setup: Linda (Rachel McAdams), a competent but erased employee, and Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), the entitled boss who inherited his power, are stranded on an island. We expect a simple reversal story—the capable woman takes charge, the useless man learns a lesson.
But Send Help isn't interested in reversal. It’s interested in escalation.
The Unrivaled Artistry of Catherine O'Hara (1954–2026)
It is incredibly sad news to start the day. Catherine O'Hara passed away earlier today, January 30, 2026, at the age of 71, at her home in Los Angeles. Her agency confirmed she died following a "brief illness. " O’Hara didn't just play characters; she built entire behavioral systems for them. Whether it was playing the mania of Delia Deetz or the operatic, delusional grandeur of Moira Rose, she was a master of playing people who were utterly certain of their own reality.
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Mercy (2026): The "Founding Lie" of Automated Justice [SPOILERS]
WARNING: This review contains FULL SPOILERS for the ending of Mercy (2026).
Justice doesn’t need to hate you to destroy you. It just needs to stop caring whether it’s wrong.
Mercy sets up a terrifying premise: a near-future justice system where trials are conducted by an AI judge ("Judge Maddox") in just 90 minutes. It promises objectivity. It promises speed. But by the end of the film, we learn that the system isn't broken because the AI malfunctioned. It's broken because it was designed to launder human corruption behind a digital face.
Mercy (2026): When Justice Stops Caring if It’s Wrong
Justice doesn’t need to hate you to destroy you. It just needs to stop caring whether it’s wrong.
Mercy is not a movie about an evil artificial intelligence. It’s a movie about what happens when we confuse procedure with truth. Set in a near-future Los Angeles that feels uncomfortably close to our own, it explores a justice system where sentences aren't delivered by people in a room, but by an automated process designed to be faster, cleaner, and "objective."
The irony is in the name. Because this system doesn’t show mercy. It shows certainty.